


Hungry Hearts

by Johnsoneer



Category: Zootopia (2016)
Genre: Adventure, Alternate Universe - Warm Bodies Fusion, Crossover, F/M, Romance, Zombies
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-04-07
Updated: 2018-09-23
Packaged: 2019-04-19 18:31:38
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 6
Words: 32,310
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14243268
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Johnsoneer/pseuds/Johnsoneer
Summary: It's not easy being dead. In a post-apocalyptic nightmare that once was the shining city of Zootopia, walking corpses fill the streets and they are hungry for brains. One of these nightmarish creatures is a fox who, like the others, is always hungry. But after years of walking the decrepit streets of the city, he finds himself a bored and perhaps a little lonely. When a living bunny stumbles into his life, his whole world will change.This work is in collaboration with Katie Katastrophe, who has provided the artwork featured in this story! See her original works here: https://kungfufreak07.deviantart.com/ and here: http://andyourteeth.tumblr.com/





	1. On Melancholy Hill

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Just looking out for the day when you're close to me.

_What am I doing with my life?_

 

_I should clean my fur up cause it’s a real mess. I probably smell pretty rancid as well. I need a bath, a shower, or something. Mammals might respect me more if I cleaned up my act a little bit. All I want is a little conversation: a little back and forth, an exchange of wits, a simple tête-á-tête if you will. But, no matter how much I try, I can never seem to make a connection. Why can’t I connect with anyone?_

 

_Oh yeah. It’s cause I’m dead._

 

_Kind of hard to talk with anyone when everyone you know is dead. See that rat over there? He’s dead. This deer over here? He’s dead too. That giraffe, she’s dead. That weasel… ouch, wow. Yeah, he’s way dead. I really shouldn’t be so hard on myself._

 

_Wish I could introduce myself, but I can’t remember my name. Pretty sure it started with an ‘N’, but that’s all I got. Can’t remember my parents or my home or my job—although this green hoodie would suggest I was unemployed. At best, I was a drug dealer. Though I like to imagine I had a job that required some inter-mammal skills, like a bartender or sales manager. That might explain why not being able to chat bothers me so much._

 

_Sometimes, I’ll look at the others and try and guess what they did before they were dead. That panther was a limo driver, going by the hat. Either that or an airline pilot. That lady with the horns must have been a singer or dancer since her pink skirt is still sparkling after 8 years of deadness. She’s not much to look at anymore though, none of us are._

 

_That’s because we’re all ‘Walkers’ now. Zombies. Undead. Walking corpses. Pick a name, they’ve all been used before. I’m still a little fuzzy on how this whole end-of-the-world thing happened in the first place though. Some of the newspapers that haven’t rotted away yet say things like “Plague” or “Vaccines Ineffective”, which makes it sound like some kind of disease. But since I haven’t had any real food or water in 8 years, I’m gonna go with the ‘no more room in hell’ theory._

 

_‘Walkers’ is the only name that makes sense to me, because that’s all we do: We walk. I mean, those of us who still can walk. That guy on the park bench hasn’t moved for a few weeks now, so I’m guessing he’s dead-dead. Yeah, it doesn’t really make sense to me either, but this is the way the world works right now._

 

_I’d much rather be a Walker anyway, rather than one of those guys…. Eughh. Stop staring at me, jeeze. Okay, see that boney furless creep? The one with the white eyes and the pasty pale skin? Yeah, we call them ‘Savages’, and we all become one of them eventually. They don’t bother us Walkers, but they’ll eat anything with a pulse. I mean, so will I, but I still feel shitty about it. Those guys seem to be angry about everything. Can’t even recognize what species this one was. I wanna say groundhog? Maybe a badger? ‘Naked drooling monster’ is the only one that makes sense now, and it’s what I have to look forward to. One day, my fur will fall out, I’ll switch to moving on four legs, and whatever is left of my mind will be kaput. Thank god I still have my fur._

 

_Not sure why I mostly stick around this part of the city. Maybe because it’s changed the least? Pretty sure this place was a dump before the world went sideways, so now it’s just a dump with Walkers in it. I’ll venture around from time to time to the areas that used to be nicer. Thankfully all the signs and subway maps are still up, making it easy to find your way around._

 

_Savanna Central was once this beautiful, clean, bustling center where mammals would go about their daily lives and drink smoothies and play in the park and stuff. The Rainforest District had all this lush plant life and water flowing through it. Tundra Town used to be packed with snow and ice every day of the year. Sahara Square was…. Actually, I’m pretty sure that place was always hot and dry, but that used to be on purpose. Downtown was full of rich mammals and important folk doing important things, or so I Iike to believe. Now there are abandoned cars, the occasional raven pecking at bones, and a healthy dose of Walkers just sniffin’ around for something to munch on._

 

_I wish things were different. I wish I was different. I’m lonely and tired and I just want to talk with somebody. But it’s just not in the cards for me. Such is the life of a dead guy._

  
  
  
  
  
  


 

 

****

 

 

**Hungry Hearts**

 

 

 

 

 

 

**Chapter 1: On Melancholy Hill**

 

The fox in the green hoodie meandered beside a familiar medical clinic and then lazily down a long staircase towards a large warehouse along the docks. Rusty cars and weeds were scattered all along the roadways, and practically every window in the area was broken. It was a sad, decrepit, and likely condemnable building that held no life inside whatsoever.

 

 _This place is my home. Pretty sure it was an amusement park at some point, considering the rollercoaster, foam pit, and carousel. The sign up top says ‘Wilde T_ —… _Something’. Not sure. The rest of the sign fell off. The doors work, though, so it’s a good place for a little privacy._

 

_I like it here. Mammals were the most alive when they were having fun at places like this, so maybe I’m trying to see if any of that life is left over. Keep a collection of random shit I come by in the office upstairs. Music, pictures, porcelain statues that make a satisfying ‘crunch’ sound when you break ’em—you name it, I got it. The rest of the place is built for the living, so it’s not much use to me. That carousel is where I’d have fun, if I knew what that word meant anymore. This foam pit would be where I would sleep, if I could sleep. Pretty sure that diner over there might have a few things I could eat, if I ever got hungry for anything besides brains._

 

_Oh yeah. I eat brains, by the way._

 

_I’m not terribly proud of it, but, to us Walkers, brains are the only thing that give us any hope. Whenever we chow down on some cranium cake, we get to experience that mammal’s memories like it was happening to us. For a brief, undeniably blissful moment, we’re alive again. Even if the memories are bad, the feeling is real. Once I got a piece of an elephant that the Savages left behind. It felt nice being tall and wide, but I have to say the trunk was an odd experience._

 

_My last meal was a few months ago, when a few racoons scuttled into town looking for… I don’t even know. All I know is that Barry, who was my unlucky meal of the night, had very poor taste in TV. Spent his early years studying and keeping his nose clean, but did a few too many drugs in college and flunked out. Lucky for him the world ended, because he made something of himself. He had a small group of loyal survivors who would follow him anywhere. I guess all those zombie video games made him think he could actually pull off the brave hero act. Not sure why he came into Zootopia, another Walker got that part of his brains. But the memories of food, music, and all those nights getting high to Guns and Rodents felt like the most fulfilling life I could ever ask for. I was satisfied for days, re-living Barry’s life._

 

_But that was months ago, and I’m starting to feel extra-dead these days. Gotta get me some grub, before my fur starts falling out and I go Savage. Guess I’ll go see if my buddy is around._

 

The fox made his way to the rear of the building where a van was parked halfway up the curb. The windshield was cracked and the sides had been graffitied poorly, but behind the grime and spray paint were parts of a mural that depicted a brave hero rescuing a helpless vixen.

 

The Walker moaned as he approached the rear of the van. He could faintly hear the sound of music playing through the van’s stereo. The slow and bright electronic beat hummed a little louder as he found the rear doors. He wavered a bit and stumbled as he shakily rapped on the van’s window. Another groan came from inside, this one deeper and grumpier. After a minute of fumbling, the door creaked open and another fox appeared from the dark van. He was much smaller, and his eyes were bloodshot. A bit of dried blood ran from his mouth down his neck, and his shirt was torn to pieces as well. He had a bit of one of his large ears missing—bitten off by something bigger than him.

 

_This is my best friend. And by “best friend”, I mean we occasionally grunt at each other and stare intensely trying to say something. He was smart in making this van his home. Living mammals will sometimes wander inside, hoping to start it up and drive to safety. That’s when he pounces. As a result, he’s had a healthy dose of brains for a Walker his size. I usually trade him whatever music records he likes in my collection for whatever leftover brains he was able to nab. It’s a love-hate thing for sure—in that I’m pretty sure he hates me, but loves the music._

 

The fennec fox grunted and scowled at the newcomer, who did his best to smile, revealing yellow teeth and bloody lips. They stared at each other for a moment, occasionally moaning but not doing much else.

 

_Oh, he’s pissed. That’s good, because it means he’s as hungry as I am. I know it looks like I’m not doing anything right now, but trust me, we’re both trying our best to communicate. He’s better at it than I am, probably because of all those brains. He gets words out before I can even squeeze out a syllable._

 

 _“_ Hungry,” the fennec fox grumbled. The other fox in the green hoodie nodded slowly, his slitted eyes widening.

 

“B… bb--brainss?” the bumbling fox managed. The fennec groaned and shook his head slowly, keeping his intense stare the entire time.

 

_Damn. If he’s out, that means we’ll have to hunt and see if we get lucky. There are a lot of Walkers in this city, and lots of them are bigger than we are. So we’ll just have to get there first._

 

“Ss—station,” the fennec said with a nod. The other fox nodded back and revealed a few more teeth in anticipation of another meal. The two of them left the van behind and started a long journey through downtown towards Savanna Central.

 

_Savanna Central Station. That place was a train station a long time ago, but it’s now a mess just like everywhere else. Me and my buddy are smart enough to know that whenever the living venture into Zootopia, they usually come in through the train tracks. A few other Walkers still have the capacity to realize that as well, but the mindless Savages can’t think that much, which gives us an advantage. It’s clear across town from here, so we’re gonna have to walk a ways. But who knows? Maybe we’ll get lucky._

 

* * *

 

 

Judy checked the pistol on her belt again, making double-sure she had the rounds she needed. The shotgun that was slung over her back was ready to go as well. The knife strapped to her leg was sharpened and weighted for throwing. The military-grade truck rattled back and forth as they rolled along towards the drop-off point. The look of sheer focus and determination on her face was evidence of one fact: She was ready for anything. Anything except for an otter named Kris jamming a wet finger into one of her ears.

 

“D’uaaghhh! Cut it out, Kris!” Judy swatted at her laughing friend.

 

“I’m sorry, I couldn’t help it!” she said between laughs. “You just looked so serious.”

 

“This _is_ serious, Kris. We’re almost out of penicillin. So if we don’t bring in a good haul today, we’ll lose dozens this winter to pneumonia.”

 

“I know that, dummy. I’m a nurse, in case you forgot. But that doesn’t mean we can’t have a little fun. Besides, last time we went into the city, we sidestepped every Walker we came across without any problems at all,” Kris argued.

 

“We were lucky. Don’t count on that happening again.”

 

“Well, if we see any Walkers, I’ll be sure to run faster than you,” Kris jested.

 

“As if you could.” Judy shot her an arrogant smile. This made Kris’s eyes light up and she leaned forward in her seat.

 

“Oh yeah? You wanna race to the station?”

 

“Oh, you’re so on, otter-girl,” Judy dared.

 

“Hey!” an aggravated voice called from the front seat. “That’s enough chit-chat. We’re approaching the drop-off point, so look alive.”

 

Judy groaned and folded her arms across her chest, leering at the rabbit riding shotgun. He had grey fur with black stripes across his cheeks, along with a distant look in his eye as he gazed at the city coming into view. Barking commands let him feel like he had some kind of authority, even though he took orders from Judy’s father.

 

“Speak for yourself, Jack,” Judy grumbled under her breath.

 

It was hard to believe this was the same Jack who would hold her paw while they walked between the burrow and the training grounds a few months earlier. What had started as a heartfelt relationship with the buck had soured after he’d joined up with the military. Judy was still willing to go on search parties with him because he was a decent shot, but she could do without his authoritarian ego.

 

“This is good, right here,” Jack instructed the driver.

 

They came to a stop and gathered their weapons. The search party of six mammals disembarked from their transport and squinted their eyes as they came into the sunlight. They were perched on top of a bridge which spanned the massive river that separated Zootopia from the outer burrows. Judy could see the green mountain-sides and lush forests behind them that divided home from hell. Turning around, she saw the black, desolate underworld that was Zootopia. One of the taller skyscrapers was leaning up against another, looking like it would fall at any time. The tracks ahead stayed suspended above the ground for a few more miles as it snaked its way around the city and through each district. Judy had never been to the city before the deadrising, but she imagined it had been beautiful.

 

“Good luck, and god speed.” The driver turned his car around, heading back down the tracks and towards the safety of home.

 

Search parties like this were rare, but necessary. While the farms back home could adequately feed the survivors of the deadrising, keeping them healthy was more difficult. They mostly relied on simpler treatments and whatever stockpiles of medicine they had. But whenever they ran out, they were forced to send brave young mammals into Zootopia to find what was needed. Judy was not, strictly speaking, part of the military. She had training, and was more than willing to help keep mammals safe and alive, but she did not fancy taking orders from her father.

 

“You guys ready?” Judy pulled the shotgun strapped around her shoulder a little closer. The others nodded, her friend Kris even giving her an eager smile before falling in behind her. She let Jack go first, since he’d insisted on being the leader. Plus it was easier to have him out front than to have another argument about who was in charge.

 

“Okay then. Next stop: Savanna Central Station!” Judy said confidently, and they began walking.  

 


	2. I Want To Know What Love Is

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> I want you to show me

_God, we move slowly. I mean, when your muscles are rotting and/or missing, it can be hard to move with any kind of purpose, so I get it. It’s just annoying that a trip to the train station is an all-day thing for us. It’s embarrassing actually, the way we hobble along like this. But don’t let that fool you into thinking we’re crippled or anything. If we smell something living, we go from Walkers to sprinters pretty quickly._

 

_Oh hey, it’s the pilot or limo-driver guy from before. What happened to your hat?_

 

_Looks like he’s got friends too, and by ‘friends’ I mean corpses that are moving in the same direction he is. I guess my little buddy and I weren’t the only ones hoping to get lucky at the train station today. That’s good. The more the merrier. The living often bring guns, and a bullet to the face works just as well on any of us as it would them. So naturally, I’ll let meat-shields numbers one through eight take the lead on this one._

 

_Huh? Why are we stopping?… You smell something little buddy?_

 

* * *

 

 

The search party walked along the train tracks through each of the districts. Sahara Square looked clear, but Tundra Town was left blackened and sickly after the snow had all melted away, leaving behind only mud and more than a few Savages scouring for flesh. Thankfully, the tracks were suspended high enough to keep their passage into town safe. It took them about an hour or so of walking along the raised tracks before they finally made their way into town through Savanna Central Station.

 

Judy moved with purpose, keeping her head low and her weapon up as they quietly surveyed the area. The sun was bright enough that day to show them all of what used to be Savanna Central Park, and, fortunately, there was no movement yet. Jack took point and kept his own rifle high, whizzing around every barricade possible before moving on to the next one. Kris was less than impressed with the display.

 

“Why are you hiding behind cars, Jack? Last I checked, Walkers don’t carry firearms,” she scoffed.

 

“Shhh!” Jack exclaimed.

 

“Relax, Rambo.” Kris rolled her eyes. “If there were any Walkers around, we’d know it by now.”

 

“Silence, Otterton. You’re giving away our position!” he spat in a furious whisper.

 

“And you’re slowing us down. The hospital is this way. Besides, the Walkers will smell us long before they hear us.”

 

Jack took an angry step towards her. "Otterton, if you don't shut up right now...."

 

“You’ll what?” Kris asked, folding her arms over her chest.

 

“I’ll do what I need to keep this search party safe.” Jack motioned towards his rifle.

 

Judy’s eyes widened. He had gone too far that time, threatening Kris like that. She slung her shotgun back over her shoulder and whipped out her knife from the strap on her leg. Grabbing him by the ears, she yanked down hard and pinned him, pressing the blade against his neck. He cried out for a moment as she wrestled him to his knees, groaning angrily.

 

“Give it a try, Sargeant,” Judy whispered.

 

His eyes flickered with both fury and a respectable amount of fear. She held him there for just a moment longer to get the message across, before releasing him and sheathing her knife.

 

“Get a room, you two,” one of the others jested.

 

Kris was nice enough to slap that marmot upside the head for the comment so Judy didn’t have to. Her memories of who Jack used to be and how she had felt about him were all but faded at this point. He’d recently became an authoritative dick, which was certainly annoying, but threatening her friend was full-on inexcusable. Now, the thought of getting anywhere close to him again made her skin crawl.

 

The group made their way into Zootopia General Hospital, which had seen better days. The building had once been ground-zero for the deadrising, where the first few cases were made public. The hospital staff had been quickly overrun, and the dead had consumed the city in a matter of days. Judy was still pretty young when it had happened, with ambitious dreams and plans on moving to the city eventually. She’d never gotten the chance to see what Zootopia was like in its former glory.

 

They passed the broken glass doors and bloodied reception desk and immediately got to work scavenging. Even though she didn’t want to spend any time in the same room as Jack, they stayed as a unit. As her dad would always say: If you split up, you get chewed up. One of their comrades spotted their target at the end of a dark hallway.

 

“Pharmacy?” Clifford gestured to a locked door on his right. There was a small window in the door that Judy knew she could use. Using the butt of her shotgun, she bashed the window open and reached inside to the handle. Jack had no complaints about the noise this time.

 

“Jacklepot,” he quickly began sorting through the various medicines on the wall.

 

“Don’t get too excited, Sargeant,” Kris told him with a sigh. “Most of the good stuff has been cleaned out long ago. The only things we’ll find here are hydrogen peroxide and subsalicylate.”

 

“Nerd,” Judy teased.

 

“Hey, don’t hate just cause I’m studying to be a nurse and can use big words now.”

 

Jack inspected a small bottle of medication. “What the hell is ‘Sildenafil’?”

 

“Viagra,” Kris answered. “Nothing you’ll need since you’re already a massive dick.”

 

Jack scoffed and tossed the bottle aside. The others were already busy tearing through the random assortment of boxes and bottles, hoping to find anything useful. Judy knew that penicillin was kept in small glass vials, so she went looking in the less obvious spots.

 

The room beside the pharmacy was a small lab with sinks, test-tubes, and various medical equipment. Before the deadrising, this room would have been used to cure diseases and help mammals far and wide. The cost of the equipment alone could have bought half a burrow back home. Now, it was just a dump. A dump with a slightly rancid smell oozing from the sinks. Judy checked the mid-sized cabinets first–no luck. She then moved on to the larger ones where medication for elephants and giraffes was stored. She found a trove of equipment and miscellaneous tools, but nothing valuable to her or the Burrows.

 

She groaned and made her way to the window. The stillness of the city outside was actually quite peaceful, but she knew the horrors it hid. She’d lost so many family members during the deadrising that it was difficult to see the city for anything less than a hellscape. And those monsters were to blame. Part of her just wanted to come to the city with as many rounds as she could fit in her pocket and blow their heads off, one by one, until the score was evened out. Because, as it stood now, the Hopps family was losing by hundreds.

 

While she was lost in thought, Judy’s paw had wandered onto a small silver object on the windowsill. She picked it up and observed it closely. It looked like a tape-recorder, and in surprisingly good shape. It even had a memory card in it, which was a unexpected because most tech had either been looted or scavenged over the years. She hit play. Nothing happened.

 

“Battery’s dead,” she realized, feeling stupid for expecting anything else.

 

Judy heard a shuffling sound from one side. It could have been one of the beakers she’d overturned rolling around in a cabinet, but she knew better than to make assumptions like that. She pocketed the recorder and pulled out her pistol, cocking it back carefully. Keeping her ears up, she waited for another sound with her weapon ready.

 

“Find anything?” Jack asked coldly as he joined her in the lab.

 

“Shh!” she silenced him. Jack caught on quickly and raised his rifle point up. His ears were stiff and tall, just like hers. Nothing at first. Then another short shuffle. Jack eyed one of the cabinets she had missed and moved in closer. He carefully reached forward and placed a paw on the handle, shooting a glance to Judy who nodded and kept her pistol at the ready. Jack nodded back and counted to three before throwing the cabinet open.

 

A high-pitched squeal screeched from the cabinet as Judy saw something small dart out from inside. It was fast and furless and it’s eyes were glazed white with blood oozing from it’s mouth.

 

“Savage mouse!” Jack cried and opened fire. His rifle rang out as he shot frantically at the floor, narrowly missing the little monster each time. The mouse was swift and darted from side to side, sniffing the air as it charged at them. It lunged towards Judy’s foot and bit at her with the few sharp teeth it had left to bare. Judy jumped skillfully onto the counter in a single bound and kept her own pistol drawn.

 

“Don’t let it bite you!” she warned as the others entered the room to see what all the noise was about. She saw Kris immediately pinpoint the rodent and draw her weapon. The mouse continued scurrying around and hissing madly at the newcomers. The pale skin on its bones was sickly and nauseating.The bullets eventually scared the creature underneath a table.

 

“Kris! You ready?” Judy called out from her spot on the counter.

 

“I got you!” The otter responded, pistol cocked and loaded. Judy leaned out from the counter and let her toe rest against the ground a few feet from where the mouse had disappeared. She swirled it around on the floor, tempting the creature out. In a flash, the mouse launched from under the table and snarled as it leapt for Judy’s toes again. She quickly withdrew her foot and rolled out of the way. Kris opened fire less than a second later.

 

Her shot hit dead-on from across the room. All that was left of the creature that had almost ended Judy's life was a little red smear across the floor. She looked up to Kris who nodded back at her and holstered her sidearm.

 

Kris noted the holes in the ground. “Nice shooting, Tex,” she scoffed at Jack.

 

“Can it, Otterton. I had that under control.”

 

“Sure.” She walked over to Judy, giving her friend a brief look-over to check for scuffs or scratches.

 

“I think we’re done here anyway,” Jack decided. “If we’ve cleaned out the stock from this hospital, we’ll just have to move on.” He made his way to the door that led back into the pharmacy, looking stoically at the others in the room who seemed more than a little shaken by the Savage mouse. He patted a few shoulders and bid them closer. “Stay cool, everyone. Keep your eyes peeled and fall in behind me. I’ll get everyone back home safe,” he said confidently and opened the door.

 

A snarling leopard with bloodshot eyes and bloodied clothes leapt forward through the open door and into the lab. Even as zombies, predators were good at moving quietly. Jack yelped and bounded out of the way on his powerful legs. The poor marmot standing behind him was not so quick. An instant later, he was caught in the beast's jaws. Time stood still for a moment as he screamed for help, before the Walker bit down and crushed his torso instantly. Judy gasped in horror at seeing the massive predator make quick work of her comrade. The leopard was soon accompanied by more Walkers falling in behind it, all moaning and screaming with their mouths open wide.

 

Judy immediately leapt into action and drew her shotgun, opening fire at the onslaught of Walkers surging into the room. She caught the leopard with the first shot. Then the second, and finally it fell limply onto the ground. A wild raccoon began racing towards her as well, but her powerful weapon made quick work of it too. The wave of Walkers seemed never-ending: a deer, another racoon, a panther, a few foxes…. They’d be overrun soon.

 

The others in the room were not nearly as quick to start firing as Judy knew they should have been. Many of them yelped and hid behind counters. A hare from their search party tried to run but was caught by a rabid deer who picked him up by the ears and angrily beat his head against the wall.

 

“Aim for their heads!” Jack ordered as he opened fire. He dropped the deer in a single shot before firing at the others as well. He hit a tiny fox with giant ears in the torso, but it just leapt forward and began feasting on another one of their search party alongside the racoon.

 

“We need to get back to the drop off!” Kris shouted while firing her pistol at the Walkers surging towards them.

 

More bullets rang out. More Walkers poured in. The sound of gunshots and snarling and screaming filled the air. Any hope of escaping the way they’d come dwindled further and further as their search party fell one by one.

 

A bloodied fox growled hungrily at Jack, leaping at him from behind. Jack mashed the butt of his rifle into the Walker’s head, knocking it down before leaping up onto the counter. Once he had a better vantage point, he went back to firing off rounds. The fox growled angrily as it collected itself from the ground, searching for the nearest living mammal so it could feed its insatiable hunger.

 

 

 

_Woah._

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

That’s when the fox saw her. She’d popped out from behind a counter and fired a few rounds of her shotgun at a Walker who’d then flown across the room and hit the wall with a thud. Her eyes were a brilliant shade of violet, and her light gray fur was absolutely breathtaking. At least, the parts that weren’t covered in splatters of blood were.

 

The fox’s eyes widened, and his body seized up as he gazed at her. The slits of his pupils dilated to the point where they were almost round—like a living mammal’s might be. The air was filled with the sounds of screaming and gunfire, but all his ears could hear was music.

 

_Ouch, what the hell?_

 

The fox pawed at his chest in confusion for a second. Something in it was not cooperating properly, causing this odd twinge to form. The longer he stared at the violent, beautiful bunny, the more that ache bothered him. He rose to his feet, moaning as he reached forward and tried to move closer to her.

 

The male bunny on the counter fired another round, hitting the fox in the hoodie square in the chest. The fox blinked and looked up in confusion, wondering for a moment what had hit him. When he realized the striped bunny had shot him, the fox growled in anger and remembered why he was there in the first place. He was hungry.

 

The bunny pulled the trigger again, this time aiming for the fox’s head. The firing pin clicked—his weapon was empty. The idiot probably got so trigger happy he’d lost count of his shots. The fox lunged forward and grabbed the rabbit’s ankles with both paws, pulling hard. The striped rabbit yelped in pain when his head bounced off the countertop as he fell.

 

“D-arghh…. No!” he cried out as the fox wrapped his fingers around his head and gripped him tightly.

 

The fox lifted the bunny’s head up as high as possible, roaring as he brought it back down to the ground with as much force as he could muster—

 

_Okay, so this is not something I’m particularly proud of. I don’t want to hurt anyone, but I just can’t help it! I’m just so hungry, and let’s face it, this guy was being a bit of a dick. You guys know what’s going on, so can I spare you the details? It really doesn’t get pretty from here so just… I don’t know, think about puppies or something._

 

_Yeah. Think about flowers and puppies right now, okay? Cute newborn wolf-pups with wet noses rolling around in a field of daisies and tulips. Nothing but good thoughts and happy times here—_

 

 _Gah! I know you don’t want to die, but quit hitting me! Don’t make me use my teeth you little—OW! Okay that does it_ ….

 

_Flowers and puppies, guys. Flowers and puppies everywhere. Flowers and puppies._

 

_Flowers aaaaaaaaaand done! Whew. Okay, I’ve really made a mess of my clothes this time. Don’t care. It’s time for the brains-train and this guy is in business class, baby! The first bite is always the best._

 

“Mmmff,” the fox moaned as he eagerly shoved the first few chunks into his mouth. His head was overcome with senses returning to his mind. His eyes rolled back, and he laid down on the floor as euphoria washed over him. He could feel the late rabbit’s memories coursing through him like fire through a dry forest. He saw a firework show from when the rabbit was young. The sights and sounds were incredible! He tasted warm carrot stew and beet salad with ranch dressing. He felt tall riding on his father’s shoulders at the Carrot Days Festival. His fur was clean and smooth and striped somehow. It was all wonderful.

 

The fox’s lips curled upwards into a broken smile as the memories continued. He had flashes of a farming town with barricades on the roadways. He saw other bunnies who were thin and malnourished turning to him for help. “The Carrot Days Festival will go on no matter what!” he heard someone shout. He hung up a large orange sign on the wall that separated his life from the rest of the world.

 

Then he saw that same beautiful bunny again, helping sort her family’s food cart. She saw him and smiled. He felt that funny little ache in his chest again, and he smiled back. He climbed down from his step ladder and introduced himself.

 

“I’m Jack,” he said.

 

“Judy,” she answered and smiled radiantly. There was so much hope in her face, like the world was still somehow right as rain. Soon he was holding her paw, walking along the roads that divided their family homes. The wall was visible but less of an eye-sore from this distance. She was still smiling, and her paw felt natural in his. The memory somehow kept getting better and better.  She leaned forward and kissed him full on the lips, and he could feel everything. Her lips were soft, her nose trembled a little, and her paw squeezed down a bit on his shoulder. He wrapped his arms around her back and pulled her closer. She was so warm.

 

It was all there for a perfect moment. And then it faded, just as quickly as it’d come. The fox could still hear her saying his name over and over again, before he realized the world was real and shitty and she literally was calling out his name.

 

“Jack! Jack, where are you!?” she cried while frantically pumping out a few more shots, stopping the jaguar from coming any closer.

 

The fox glanced up at the frantic bunny. Her shotgun was now empty. She threw it aside and pulled out her pistol, firing at the Walkers who weren’t busy feasting on her friends. He looked back down at the mess he’d made with Jack and shoved the remains of the rabbit’s brains into the pocket of his green hoodie.

 

Judy saw the fox-Walker rise to his feet and approach her. She watched in horror as it leered at her with a wild intensity that made her skin crawl. She aimed her pistol straight at its head and pulled the trigger. Her last gun was empty. She cursed, throwing her pistol aside. Judy pulled the knife from her leg again, throwing it directly at the fox with practiced skill. The knife plummeted into its chest with a thud but didn’t phase the fox in the slightest. The Walker simply pulled the knife out and dropped it to the floor while creeping closer.

 

Judy was at a loss. She kept her eyes wide and stepped backwards until she was pinned against the counter with nowhere left to go. Her nose was quivering frantically. She slowly slid to the floor. The fox was so close. Too close. She could smell the death on its breath. The Walker loomed over her, staring at her with a terrifying focus, until its nose was only centimeters away from hers. Her arms were shaking. So were her legs. The Walker reached out for her. She closed her eyes and prepared for her own bloody end. 

 

 

 

 

 

The fox said no more, only taking her shoulders in its paws and slowly lifting her up and onto her feet. Her eyes widened again. She was sure this time it actually would kill her. But instead, once she’d found her footing, they began walking. The Walker had her wrist in its paw and was guiding her towards the exit.

 

Judy eyes met Kris’s, who was keeping very still and very quiet in the cabinet beneath the sink. The otter watched in horror as her friend was marched out of the room and into the lobby of the hospital. While Judy’s feet were following along, the rest of her body was still stiffer than a board. The other Walkers seemed to calm down, now that everyone else in her search party was lifeless in one way or another. With their bellies full, they walked slowly and aimlessly as the dead fox guided Judy along. Oddly enough, the other Walkers seemed not to pay her any mind. She was surrounded by dead mammals that would normally eat her brains as soon as they saw her, but, in that moment, they left her alone.

 

Perhaps the fox had somehow claimed her? Was it taking her back to feed on her later? Was she leftovers? Did the other Walkers not care, or did they not notice?

 

While terrified questions circled in Judy’s head, the fox was grumbling to himself.

 

_What am I doing? She’s alive. I’m dead. What am I trying to get out of this, exactly? This is absolutely crazy. All the other Walkers would think I am losing my mind—if I had any mind left to lose. I just can’t help myself right now. If the others smell her, she’ll be torn apart in an instant. Shame about the fur on her cheek, but I’m sure if I could make her understand, she’d thank me. It also helps that her jacket is covered in blood. She could just be another Walker after a fresh meal right now, so we’re good._

 

_But what’s the plan, genius?! Take her back to the warehouse and…. What? Stare at her until she dies of boredom? Real suave conversationalist you are these days. Oh jeeze, what if my fennec friend finds out? He’ll stop giving me any of his leftovers, and I’ll become a Savage in no time._

 

_Idiot! Just turn around and eat her now! That would make this whole mess so much easier…_

 

_But the way she smiled in those memories… Argh!_

 

_Okay, okay. Think. We’re doing fine so far. If I can keep her safe for a while, maybe she’ll stick around long enough for me to get a full sentence out?_

 

_Oh man, she looks terrified. I mean, I don’t blame her. There’s gotta be something I can do to make her feel better. She’s surrounded by bloodthirsty monsters and walking along with a dead fox—exactly the type of creature known to eat bunnies looong before the world went sideways._

 

_I can do this. Just tell her something to make her feel safer. This would be a whole lot easier if I could JUST. SAY. SOMETHING._

 

“Huueyy _…_ ” the fox moaned.

 

_I hate being dead._

 

 

  


**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Special thanks to OnceNeverTwiceAlways for some phenomenal editing work on the past few chapters! That one's got talent. Artwork, as always, is done by the wonderful KungFuFreak07, who you should totally check out on tumblr and deviantart.com.


	3. Thriller

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Darkness falls across the land  
> The midnight hour is close at hand  
> Creatures crawl in search of blood  
> To terrorize y'all's neighborhood

The city grew dark very quickly as they passed through the long shadows cast by the broken towers of downtown. The roads became narrower and harder to distinguish, and, before long, Judy had no idea where she was. The thought terrified her to her core because now, even if she tried to run, she’d be too turned around to find her way back to the drop-off point. If she lost her way, she would undoubtedly meet a gruesome end at the paws of Walkers—just like the rest of her search party had.

 

Their screams were still echoing in her head as she followed closely behind the staggering fox. Some of them had cried for help, only to grow silent moments later. Her eyes were wide open, but Judy only occasionally saw what was in front of her. The rest of the time, her vision was clouded with the memory of blood-spattered walls. The only respite from those grim memories was the fear of where this Walker was taking her, and what horrible plans it had in store. 

 

_ Bunnies like carrots, right? Is it speciesist to assume that bunnies like carrots? Not that I have any to give her in the first place, but I do have that orange carrot-shaped pillow I found at the abandoned toy store. It’s got a smiley face on it. Maybe she’d like that?… Eughhh this is hopeless. I should just get her inside before anyone else catches on. She’s starting to smell tasty again.  _

 

The fox took another turn down a narrow street, leading her towards an area by the river lined with warehouses. Judy was not sure if the apocalypse had actually affected this area, or if it was already run down to begin with. The grass was tall enough to tower over her in some bushy spots where the pavement was cracked. She could try to make a run for the river, but, without a boat, the polluted water would kill her faster than the Walker could. Perhaps it was best to bide her time until she saw an opportunity to escape. After all, the fox had not eaten her yet. 

 

Out of the corner of her eye, Judy spotted a red cross hanging above one of the nearby abandoned shops. It was dirty and had vines growing around it, but it looked like it had been a pharmacy or medical clinic at one point. 

 

“Holy shit,” Judy said in astonishment. There was no way that any other search party had ever ventured this far into the city before, so the haul from that shop must be unbelievable. 

 

“Hhhuuughh _ … _ Uhmmmm _ … _ ” the fox moaned as it gestured to one of the warehouses. Judy snapped back to attention and resumed walking under her hobbling guide’s direction. She was unsure if any other Walkers knew she was there, but it wasn’t time to run just yet. 

 

The fox opened a massive set of doors and waited a moment, looking at her intently. Judy hesitated. Was this zombie actually holding the door open for her? She couldn’t run without being hounded down, and she had no more weapons, but the darkness looming inside the warehouse was foreboding. 

 

“Sss _ … _ safe _ … _ ” the fox said with a slight nod of its head. Its eyes were wide and pleading. 

 

She was still overwhelmed by the horrifying events of the past few hours, but was nevertheless surprised to hear the Walker speak, even if it was only a word. Judy had nearly convinced herself that she had imagined the Walker speaking earlier. She heard a snarl from the distance, sounding a bit like a Savage feasting on a meal. She quickly stepped forward and reluctantly made her way inside.

 

The only light source was the fading sun behind her. The inside of the warehouse was so dark that Judy could barely see three feet in front of her. However, the room echoed as the fox closed the door behind them, so she could tell that it was massive. There could be an entire swarm of Walkers waiting for her. She turned, looking for the fox but finding only blackness. The predator would be able to see her perfectly in this darkness, and she would have no way of seeing it coming.

 

_ It’s dark as shit…  Where’s the stupid switch?… Damn it… Okay, there we go! _

 

Judy leapt with a yelp as she heard the sound of a motor turning. She saw the fox standing beside an industrial-sized power generator that had whirred into life. Lights started to flicker around her, and, pretty soon, the entire building was lit. 

 

“Sweet cheese and crackers,” Judy gasped when she got a look at where the Walker had brought her. 

 

It was an amusement park buried inside an old warehouse. A sizeable roller coaster snaked its way around the entire room, with its tracks still held together firmly. A carousel was dead center with various carnival game stands on either side of it. To one side, she saw a foam pit for kiddies to play in. On the other side, there was a small dinner with large plastic milkshake adorning the roof. The park was dirty in places and rusted in others, but if she squinted, it would be easy to imagine that the deadrising had never touched this place. The sign that lit her face from above was missing a few letters, the only thing she could make out was the word ‘Wild’. 

 

“Why did you bring me here?” Judy asked, turning to the fox. 

 

It sheepishly looked from one side to the other and opened its mouth to speak again.

 

“Ss _ … _ safe _ …, _ ” it repeated. The Walker’s mouth was caked in dried blood, and its clothes were practically painted red. When the fox got close enough earlier, she could have sworn the smell of death was on its breath—-maybe even from friends of hers that it had eaten. But with that look of nervous apprehension on its face, Judy began to wonder if it actually meant her any harm at all.

 

“Safe,” she echoed the Walker. “Safe from what? From you?”

 

“Nnnn _ … _ nnnot _ … _ eat _ … _ ” the fox mumbled and shook its head. 

 

“You’re not going to eat me?” Judy clarified. 

 

It nodded eagerly, folding its paws into the pocket of its green hoodie. The fox took another step closer, and Judy backed away, maintaining her distance from the bloodied predator. Foxes were shifty creatures, even before the deadrising. Perhaps this Walker had kept a few habits of trickery from before it turned. While she was amazed at its ability to form an actual spoken word, she did not buy the ‘tame Walker’ act for a second. 

 

Judy defiantly thumped her foot on the floor. “Then let me go!”

 

The fox’s eyes widened before nervously shaking its head. 

 

“Why not?” 

 

“Nnnot _ … _ not ss––”

 

“Not safe, okay I got it,”  she huffed angrily. “But why keep me here?”

 

The fox looked about ready to shrug, and she did not like it toying with her like this. 

 

Judy’s temper was catching up with her quickly. “Do you even know what this place is?”

 

“Hhhmm?” the fox moaned in confusion.

 

“Of course you don’t. You can drop the act, Walker. I know you probably fooled a few mammals with the talking trick and the ‘keep you safe’ act in the past, but it won’t work on me! I know what you are, you monster!!” 

 

The fox took a step back, its eyes remaining wide and dilated as she gestured to the world around her. 

 

Judy practically spat as she shouted at the Walker in front of her. “You see this place? This was built by the living, by mammals who cared for each other enough to laugh and play together. You mindless wraiths have no idea about the world you’re stomping on! All you do is maim and eat and murder. You things are nothing like the mammals who built this place!”

 

Having lost as many family and friends as she had, there was some catharsis to screaming at a Walker who seemed to understand her. The fox took another step back, but its paws stayed in its pockets. Hard to have any self-preservation instincts when you’re already dead, she supposed. 

 

After a moment of silence between them, broken only by Judy’s voice bouncing off the metal walls of the warehouse, the fox’s expression grew cold and passive. It turned away, and made its way up a short staircase into what looked like the park’s administrative office. The Walker didn’t glance back at her once before it stepped inside and closed the door. 

 

_ Well. That could have gone better.  _

 

Judy held still for a moment, making certain the Walker stayed in the office. Its behavior confused her, no doubt, but she had more pressing issues to think about—like how she was going to get home without dying. She started with the door she’d entered through, folding her ears behind her back and poking her head outside. Scanning the area, it looked clear enough. But it was also getting dark, and she would be as good as dead on the streets at this hour. 

 

After closing the door as quietly as she could, she turned around and ran to the other side of the park through the field of carnival games. The decaying prizes were still dangling from the ceiling. Judy peered out the windows lining the back, and all she saw was a straight shot into the river. She looked in either direction for the train bridge she’d walked into the city on, but she only found open water. That meant there were potentially miles between her and her way out of the city. 

 

“Scat!” she cursed and thumped her fist against the wall. 

 

Judy’s options were very limited at this point. She could hold out until morning, but there would be no guarantee the Walker that held her captive would not get hungry while she slept. Running through the streets was out of the question, so her only remaining hope was to get a message somehow to her inevitable rescue party. Their pickup was scheduled for sundown, so the ride home would be showing up on the bridge any minute now, only to find no one there. 

 

Judy’s father would panic and send in a few heavily armed search parties looking for her, assuming the council would let him. If she could make a smoke signal––or perhaps find a radio and hail for help––she could bring the search party to her. But, at the very least, it would take the next day or so for her father to gather resources before heading out. That gave her about 36 hours before any hope of rescue—perhaps sooner if Kris was found first. 

 

“Kris _ … _ ” she breathed. Her friend was still alive when the Walker had whisked Judy away from the carnage, and none of the other Walkers had spotted her yet. Kris was a capable fighter and smart, so Judy had faith that her friend could make it out of there alive. But she had lost too many friends to remain completely optimistic. Hoping for the best but preparing for the worst was all she could do at this point. 

 

Judy turned and looked up at the office that the Walker had disappeared into. There was no way she was going to spend the night here with that monster wandering around. All things considered, her current predicament wasn’t as bad as it could have been. She was in a locked, relatively secure area with only one Walker to deal with. All she needed was something blunt and the element of surprise, and she would be safe until help arrived. Judy looked around for a moment at the carnival games around her. After some searching, she found a baseball game with bats sized for mammals a bit bigger than rabbits. She heaved it over her shoulder and gave it a few practice swings. It was a little much, but it would work.

 

She crept up the stairs towards the office, making sure that her footsteps were silent. Her ears remained upright and ready, but so far she didn’t hear any movement. She waited at the door for a moment with her ear pressed up against it. There was a soft grunt, but nothing much else. Judy gripped her bat a little tighter and steeled herself for action. The fox would be strong; she would have to be fast enough to overpower it before it got the chance to retaliate. She took a quick breath in and reached for the handle. 

 

The door opened before she could reach it. She stumbled forward with a yelp, leaping back and staring up at the fox with wide eyes and her bat clenched tightly in her paws. The Walker stood there, equally shocked, holding a bright orange pillow in its paws. The fox’s eyes darted between the floor and Judy for a moment as it hesitated, before extending the orange pillow in her direction. 

 

“C _ … _ carrot,” it offered weakly. 

 

She was speechless now, her eyes darting between the offering in its paws and its face. The blood—and stench—- were still there, but the Walker’s eyes were genuine, almost as if it were really hoping she’d take the pillow in its outstretched paws. 

 

“Are you _ … _ are you offering me this pillow to sleep on?” she asked hesitantly. 

 

The fox simply nodded, keeping its paws forward. She looked up at the fox for a moment, not daring to move just yet—-still frozen in confusion. The Walker caught sight of the bat in her paws. It took a small step back and its eyes widened in response. Judy immediately placed the bat on the floor and nervously twiddled her paws. 

 

“Oh! That’s nothing, that was just _ … _ uhm, that was _ … _ ”Judy scrambled to think up a believable explanation. She was not sure why though. Given the circumstances, bashing the Walker in with a bat was certainly an appropriate response.

 

“Sss _ … _ s-sure,” The fox said, its eyes drooping lower and its features falling a bit. Was that a scowl?

 

“Hey, it’s not like this is normal for me, Mr. Fox. I just—What are you doing?” Judy resumed her defensive stance and maintained at least two arm’s distance as it stepped forward. The Walker exited the office and motioned with its paws, grunting sternly and urging her to go inside. She backed in, keeping her eyes and ears on the fox again, ready to slam the door if she needed to. 

 

“Lock,” it said, gesturing to the door. The fox wobbled a bit as it leaned forward and closed the office door behind it. Now she was alone in the office, it was outside, and she was even more confused. 

 

“Lock!” the Walker called out a little louder through the door. Judy caught on and pushed the little button on the doorknob with a satisfying click. The door rumbled a bit as the fox gave the door a shove from the other side, turning the knob to no avail. 

 

“What are you doing?” Judy asked through the door.

 

“Safe!” It called out in annoyance.

 

She was stunned again. She heard the fox wobble down the stairs one at a time, and, before long, even the sound of its footsteps was completely gone. It took Judy several moments to stop staring at the door with her mouth hanging open. A zombie who could mumble a few words was one thing, but this Walker had gone out of its way to make her  _ feel  _ safe. That meant it understood her feelings. That was not supposed to be possible. 

 

Judy looked down to her paws and the orange pillow in them. She must have taken it earlier without noticing. Looking closer, she saw the pillow was shaped like a large carrot with a cartoonish happy face on one side. It was soft and clean, which was a small miracle given the circumstances. 

 

When she turned and observed the office closer, she was yet again struck speechless. All around the room was a collection of knick-knacks. They were clearly arranged in some attempt at organization, even if Judy couldn't put her finger quite on how. A saxophone hung above the windowsill beside a record player and a rather impressive collection of vinyl records. She saw a few porcelain figurines of various mammals in pristine condition. They were missing the thin layer of dust that seemed to cover everything else, which suggested the Walker had cleaned them. There was a grandfather clock against one wall, and a fox-sized mannequin from an expensive suit-store on the other. On the table was a red handkerchief that looked like it had been folded with care. Judy saw a couch in one corner with a blanket unevenly tucked into the couch cushions. The Walker had prepped a bed for her. 

 

“What are you?” she wondered aloud. 

 

_ I’m an idiot. She was about to bash my head in, and I would have deserved it too. Thank god for that little awkward exchange, otherwise she might have re-killed me. Can’t say I blame her. But come on! What’s a dead guy gotta do to get some basic levels of decency here? It’s okay. Cool it down. She’ll be better off in the office on her own for a little while anyway. It’s not like she’s going anywhere else for the time being. Bet she’s already asleep by now.  _

 

_ Must be nice to sleep. I never have, or at least I haven’t since I died. Bet dreams are fun. It’s like being alive but while you’re asleep, so I imagine. The closest thing I’ll ever get is eating brains—which is much less romantic. Can’t imagine The Cranberries have written too many songs about eating brains, but they’ve written plenty about dreams. I wonder if she likes music? _

 

_ There are a lot of ways to get to know someone. Eating her dead boyfriend’s brains is…arguably one of the more unorthodox ways to go about it. But I’m gonna use what I can. I’ve still got a bunch left from this afternoon, and she’ll be down for the night. So bottom’s up! _

 

The fox dug through the pocket of his hoodie and shoved a few pieces of Jack into his mouth. His eyes rolled upwards, and his vision exploded with memories and experiences. At first, he got a glimpse of that firework show again. Then swimming in a pool somewhere. Next, he was doing pushups in a field with some grumpy older bunny screaming at him and the other rabbits. Then he saw Judy again, smiling back at him. 

 

“So Jack? How has training been going?” an older, more plump looking rabbit asked him. 

 

“Very well, Mr. Hopps. I’ll start my first wall shifts next week.” 

 

“That’s good. We’ll need strong, strapping young bucks like yourself when the Walkers come knocking at our gates again.”

 

“ _ If _ the Walkers come, dad,” Judy said angrily from the other side of the dinner table. This must be where Jack was doing the whole ‘meeting the rents’ thing!

 

“They will, Jude. They can’t scavenge in the city forever. And when they finally run out of food over there, they’ll come over here. The only reason we survived last time was because we were armed. Now, thanks to the wall, and our dedicated young soldiers—” Stu said with a wink in Jack’s direction—“we’ll be ready for them.”

 

“It’s been years, Dad. If they were going to starve to death, they would have by now _ … _ ”

 

The fox’s eyes dilated as a new memory popped into his head. This time he was running for his life towards a giant wall that seemed to continue in both directions forever. Jack was shouting.

 

“Why didn’t you just do what I said?!?” 

 

“I didn’t know there would be Walkers there!” another mammal spat as they continued running. 

 

“Just keep going! We’re almost at the wall!”

 

There was a snarl then a flurry of fur and screaming as the mammal beside him was brought to the ground by a wolf that was missing most of its fur. 

 

“Agh! Damn it! Why doesn’t anyone ever listen to me!?!”

 

Another memory flashed in front of him. This time, he was sitting quietly with Judy leaning against his shoulder. There was that same warm feeling he’d experienced last time. It was heavenly. 

 

“I’m thinking about joining the next search party,” Judy said softly. 

 

“Absolutely not.” 

 

She frowned and folded her arms across her chest. “Excuse me? I’m pretty sure it’s my decision, Jack.”

 

“Not while you’re my doe, it’s not,” he said flatly. “Besides, you have any idea how dangerous that is?”

 

“Where the heck is this coming from? I know how dangerous it is. Far more than you do,” she spat. “You wanna count how many family members I’ve lost to those monsters?”

 

“This isn’t a debate, Judy. You’re staying here and looking after the burrow.” He rose from their loveseat to leave. 

 

“What? Do you really expect me to drop everything I’ve worked for just to become your little burrow-keeper?”

 

"It's real cute how you want to help, but your place is at home, helping us repopulate the Burrows." His voice was not angry, but instead was condescending, as if he were breaking the news about Santa Claws to a child. "You can't play hero forever."

 

“My  _ place? _ My future is up to no one but me. Do you understand? No one tells me what I can or can’t be!”

 

“I’ve had enough!” He threw his paws up in frustration. “You will do as I say, or you’re done being my doe.”

 

“Jack _ … _ ” Judy answered coldly. “I was your partner, not your property.”

The fox came crashing back into his normal self as the last of his meal was finished. He blinked a few times, licking his lips and savoring the flavor. He suddenly felt a little bit better about eating Jack’s brains. 

 

_ Alright, so she wasn’t on great terms with Jack before the whole ‘flowers and puppies’ thing, so I’ve got that goin’ for me. Clearly she doesn’t like to be bossed around, so I’ll keep that in mind. Wonder what that place was that I saw, with the giant wall and the green fields. It looked nice, and peaceful.  _

 

_ My first impression could have probably gone better, but now I’ve got all night to plan for the second. Let’s see, what would she like?… Well, she seemed to enjoy that festival with all the carrots in the last memory well enough. Maybe she’d like a private carnival?… This place could use some elbow grease anyway.  _

 

* * *

 

 

Judy awoke hazily. The felt pillow beneath her head was comfortable, and the blanket was warm enough. But the sofa cushions were old and scratchy and _ … _ and not hers. 

 

She remembered where she was and peered around the room for a brief, panicked moment. She half expected the Walker to be waiting for her to wake up before it started to devour her. The mannequin against the wall gave her a real fright, but it reminded her that she was safely locked in the office of the worn-down amusement park hidden in the warehouse. 

 

Judy heard a crashing sound from outside the office, and she quickly stood up and peered out the window onto the warehouse floor. She saw some movement, recognizing a green hoodie in the morning light. She threw her jacket back on and crept out of the office, making her way across the indoor fairgrounds.

 

“Wow,” she gasped as she made her way across the warehouse floor. The place was tidier than it had been when she’d fallen asleep. The prizes hanging from the stands were all organized, and many of the games themselves had been cleaned and set up. More of the lights were working as well, though it still wasn’t picture perfect. She made her way over to where a second crash came from and found the fox fiddling with one of the carnival games. It was grumbling and grunting, seemingly frustrated with the cups that were meant to be set up into pyramids and knocked down with a single pitch. 

 

“Hey.”

 

The Walker stumbled backwards at her greeting, causing the other two pyramids it’d already set up to fall over and clank on the ground. It grumbled again.

 

_ Darn it, Bunny! Do you have any idea how hard it is to balance things when your default setting is ‘spaz’?  _

 

The fox looked up at her from the ground and frowned for a second. The Walker staggered for a moment before it rose again, shifting the cups around a bit as it did so. 

 

“C _ … _ Carrots _ … _ ” It hobbled closer. 

 

“Did you just call me Carrots?” Judy said in no small amount of astonishment yet again.

 

“Bu–bunnies _ … _ like carrots,” it mumbled, as if it were stating an obvious fact. It was, but it still irked her. 

 

“Just because I’m a rabbit, doesn’t mean I automatically like carrots,” she protested. 

 

“Hhhuuhhh” the fox groaned with a nod. “Sss _ … _ sleep okay?”

 

“Yeah, I slept fine, thanks for the pillo—”

 

Judy stopped, realizing she did very much enjoy the carrot pillow he’d given her and that she had just admitted to liking it. In fact, she’d just walked right into that little trick, and the fox knew so! She looked back up to its face to see its eyes half-lidded and cracking a broken smile. Its self-satisfied smirk annoyed her–to say the least. But wait! It was a Walker! This Walker was  _ smiling _ ! _ …  _ Albeit like a prick, but it was a smile nonetheless. 

 

“My name isn’t Carrots. It’s Judy,” she told it. “Do you have a name?”

 

It was the fox’s turn to look bashful. Its eyes went wide. “Nn _ … _ name?” it stammered. 

 

“What do I call you?”Judy crossed her arms. 

 

_ Come on, come on, you got this! Just think real hard and let it out. _

 

“Nnnnnnn . . . . NNnnnNNNNN . . .” it grumbled. 

 

“Don’t hurt yourself, Walker,” Judy said skeptically. 

 

The fox frowned, taking in a deep breath through the snout and trying again. “nnnNNNNNN _ … _ Nnnuu _ … _ NN.”

 

“‘N’? Does it start with an ‘N’?” Judy questioned. 

 

The fox’s eyes widened, and he nodded eagerly.

 

“Okay _ … _ so like Nathan? Nolan? _ … _ Neil? Nate?”

 

The fox shook its head as she listed off names. None of them seemed to strike a cord. She could tell it was something it actually cared about, as absurd as the concept seemed. 

 

“Nelson? Nigel? Neville? Norton?  _ … _ Okay, how about I just call you ‘N’? And we’ll figure the rest out later?”

 

"N," the fox repeated. There was something oddly endearing about the way he rolled it around on his tongue for a second, as though he liked how it felt. He gave her a much more genuine smile and nodded his head eagerly. She had to admit that while it was a shit name, it was probably better than being called ‘Walker’ or ‘monster’ over and over again.

 

“N it is,” she agreed. “So, N, thanks for the pillow, and for keeping me safe. And for not eating me and all. But I’m hungry, and I could really use some food.”

 

At first glance, the fox never held any expression in his face beyond a dazed glare that all Walkers wore. But observing him closer, she caught subtle hints at what N was thinking. She noticed him biting his lip and his eyes widening a little. Searching further, she saw that his tail had stiffened, and he looked at the ground for a moment. He shook his head nervously and gestured to the doors to the outside world. “Nnnot _ … _ safe.”

 

“I know it’s not safe. But if the living don’t get food, we starve. So I’d really like to get some breakfast,” Judy said simply.

 

He hesitated again, looking very concerned about the idea of leaving her alone in the warehouse. While he did not seem to mind her borrowing his home, he always seemed to stutter more when she suggested doing something dangerous. Perhaps an old trick she used to pull on her father might work? 

 

Judy folded her ears over her back and held her paws together in front of her waist. She made her eyes really round and looked at him with a pleading expression. “Please, N. I’d be really grateful for some food.”

 

_ Okay, that’s adorable and not fair in the slightest. _

 

“Hhhaaa _ … _ Okay,” he muttered and nodded his head. “Yyy _ —- _ you stay _ … _ safe _ … _ Judy.” 

 

“Oh, thank you N! Thank you so much!” Judy walked with him to the exit of the park. 

 

She held the door open only a crack’s worth and watched as he hobbled back into the streets. Her happy face faded into a look of focus as she made double-sure that he was gone. Once she was satisfied, Judy ran back towards the office and found a small backpack beside the couch she’d slept on. She stuffed the large bat in there and made her way back to the door before sneaking out. She kept her head low, darting through the streets. 

 

Her ears were up high as Judy ran as quickly as she could. There was no movement in sight, thankfully, and she kept herself as small as possible between hiding places. Once upon a time, her ancestors would have lived this way from the moment they were born until their death, dashing from shelter to shelter and running for their lives. She hoped that those instincts had not completely been lost over the millennia as she dove between the cars and tall weeds in the road. 

 

She stopped along the path that N had brought her down and eyed the pharmacy from the day before. The red cross hanging above it was more visible in the early daylight, and Judy was not about to let her friends’ deaths mean nothing. She quickly made her way to the glass door in the front and tried to tug it open. It wouldn’t budge—and breaking it would make too much noise. 

 

She dug the bat out of her pack and stuck the handle between the sliding doors. She tugged on  it from the outside and used the leverage to pry the sliding doors open just enough for her to fit through. She made her way inside and darted past the rotted magazines and bathroom cleaners. The good stuff was always in the back, behind the counter, across from the condoms and bite-collars. She bounded up onto the counter and found the metal box in the back.

 

“Jacklepot!” 

 

She eyed the vials of various antibiotics. Two of them were massive ones meant for bigger mammals, but they had the same labels as the smaller vials. She stuffed them all into her backpack, along with a few pawfuls of tissues to keep them from banging around in her bag. There was enough medicine in her pack now to restock the entire ward back at the Burrows!

 

Just before she got the bag back on, Judy heard a low thunderous growl roll through the pharmacy. She froze, staring at the only exit. She could see the very top of a lion’s mane as the doors were pried open and a figure limped inside. She cursed to herself and snuck away from the counter as quietly as possible. 

 

The lion sniffed loudly, moaning as he caught her scent. He hobbled in farther. He was up on two legs, which was a good sign. He might be easier to evade than a Savage. She kept her ears tall and waited for him to prowl farther into the store. Judy carefully crept from one aisle to the next to stay out of view from the hungry beast still blocking her exit. She found a pack of batteries hanging from the wall beside her and took a few in her paws. When she was convinced the Walker was looking away, she tossed one pack to the other side of the room where it crashed into the scent-maskers. The lion growled again and quickly shuffled over to the noise, bumping into a few aisles along the way and spilling items onto the floor. 

 

Judy took the opportunity to move towards the door and backed away slowly from the pharmacy. She made sure that the lion was not following her, before she turned to run away. 

 

A paw grabbed her shoulder and yanked her away from the street and up against a nearby motorcycle. She yelped for a second, but the red in the Walker’s fur looked familiar, as did the concern in his eyes. He shushed her madly and tried his best to calm her down. Her little yelp had caused the other walkers in the area to begin wandering towards them, and now from both directions of Vine street walking corpses were blocking her escape.

 

N’s eyes darted from side to side nervously. He stepped closer to her again, his paw shaking against his chest. He dug around under his shirt, finding the same wound she’d left in his chest when she’d thrown her knife the day before. The rotted brown blood stank like the dead, and he wiped it down across her cheek like he had in the hospital. He gave her another sniff, seemingly satisfied that she did not smell appetizing any longer, and helped her stand back up. 

 

They turned towards the warehouse, only to confirm that a host of Walkers was blocking their path. Judy looked up at N nervously. N turned back to her with wide eyes. 

 

_ Certain death on one side, with a heaping helping of certain death on the other side as well. Dumb bunny just could not stay put, huh? Come on, think! We got back to the warehouse before, but that was because those Walkers were full. These guys look just as hungry as always…. Okay. This idea is probably a little stupid, but so are Walkers, so it might just work. _

 

“Be _ … _ d-dead _ … _ ” N instructed her. 

 

She looked at him like he was speaking in tongues or something. N demonstrated what he meant by hobbling forward a few paces and exaggerating his moan a little, raising his arms forward a bit to drive it home. He looked back at her, and she seemed to get the idea, nodding and following him down the street. 

 

“Hhhhuuuu _ … _ uuhhhhhsshsshshsh _ … _ “ she moaned as they began shuffling. “Bloooood _ … _ blooooood  _ … _ hhsssssss.”

 

N stopped them both and scowled at her. “T—too much,” he murmured quietly.

 

She limped along beside him, continuing her over-the-top performance as they hobbled along amongst the Walkers. Judy, despite N’s warnings, only got bolder the farther they got. 

 

“Bllooood! _ … _ Blooooood _ … _ and _ … _ deaaatthhhhhhhhh,” she cried out, letting her tongue loll out of her mouth and drooping her eyes around pitifully. 

 

“You’re _ … _ milking it,” N critiqued quietly as they got closer to the warehouse. 

 

“Shut up, it’s working!” Judy whispered with an excited smile on her face, before resuming her death march. 

 

“UUUUGGGGHHHHh _ … _ OOOHHHHHHcshshshshshs _ … _ BLOOOOOD _ … _ and DEATHHHHHHHH!”

  
  


With that final cough and moan, Judy fell to the ground and writhed before staying totally still. 

 

_ Oh, this is just painful to watch. Get up, you idiot! I’ll drag you back if I have to. _

 

Judy’s ‘limp and lifeless corpse’ was smiling just a bit as the other Walkers looked over at N with confused looks on their faces. How had this bunny actually managed to embarrass him in front of all the other zombies?

 

_ Ok, dragging it is.  _

 

N knelt down for a moment and picked up Judy’s backpack, pulling her along with it as she continued to moan. Her feet and paws dragged across the ground as he pulled her passed a few more Walkers. When they were finally far enough away that none of the other Walkers could spot them anymore, N unceremoniously dropped Judy at the entrance to the warehouse. He scowled back at her as she dusted herself off. 

 

“I think that went pretty well. It was actually kinda fun. It felt a bit like being in a Michael Packson video,” she said confidently. “I was an actor in middle school, you know.”

 

“You don’t _ … _ s-say,” N huffed and turned to open the door. 

 

“Hey, N. I’m sorry for running. Really,” she admitted. “Thank you for coming to get me.”

 

He paused with his paw on the knob and eyed her up and down. “Not safe.”

 

“I know. I’m sorry, N.” 

 

He mulled over her apology for a moment before deciding that it sounded sincere enough. He opened the door a little wider, gesturing for her to go first. 

 

“Thanks. And by the way, I actually am pretty hungry.”

 

“Ccc _ … _ carrots,” he said in exhaustion.

 

She stopped for a second and bounced a little in excitement. “Wait _ … _ are you calling me ‘Carrots’, or are you saying you found me carrots?”

 

“Got you _ … _ carrots,” he answered with a short smile, stepping inside the warehouse behind her. 

 

“Yes!” Judy grinned back at him and pumped her fist. “Thank you N!” 

 

“No  _ … _ problem _ … _ Carrots.”


	4. Hungry Heart

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Everybody's got a hungry heart.  
> Everybody's got to have a home.  
> Lay down your money and you play your part.  
> Everybody's got a hungry heart.

N watched patiently while his guest savored the probably stale taste of canned carrots. He heard her hum to herself in satisfaction as she used a plastic spoon to scoop a few more pieces into her mouth. He had also managed to scavenge a few crackers with the packaging still intact, along with a jar of honey. She had wasted no time dipping the stale crackers into the golden-yellow jar and smiled a little with each bite. The look on her face made N a little proud of himself.

 

She turned to him and gestured to the jar in her paw. “Honey never goes bad, you know.”

 

N observed her with an active fascination as she ate. She was not much for table manners at the moment, nor should she be. But the way she took such delight in something so worthless to him was both strange and enrapturing.

 

“Thank you, N,” she said, wiping her chin with the back of her paw. “Nothing like the rations back home, but that hit the spot.”

 

Her attention shifted towards the undead fox in the room as she finished off the last few bites. There was no fear in her eyes this time. Instead, she was curiously observing him like he did whenever he found an old relic from the time before the deadrising to add to his collection. He sat quietly, staring right back at her with a similar interest from the sofa she had slept on.

 

“So…” Judy started, placing the can and plastic fork on the office desk. “What’s your story, N?”

 

“Ss…story?” he grunted with a cocked eyebrow.

 

“I’ve seen more than a few Walkers, N, and one or two Savages too. But you’re the first one that has ever spoken. Can all of you speak?”

 

N thought back for a moment. He’d never stumbled across any other Walkers who could talk besides his smaller fox friend, but, then again, he’d never really asked any of them before. He could only shrug as a response. Judy folded her legs and sat upright on the desk pensively.

 

“Ok. Well, here’s a better question: Why didn’t you eat me?” she asked softly.

 

_Shit. I haven’t thought about an excuse for that yet. It’s not like I can just tell her outright that seeing her made my chest ache and eating her would have felt worse than going hungry forever. I need something better than that. Come on, think of something! Just joke if you need to._

 

“Bunnies t—taste like…like carrots. I…h—hate carrots,” he ventured. He shrugged again and looked away to keep her from spotting how nervous he was.

 

“There you go with the stereotypes again. You know, you are a very ironic shade of orange for someone who hates carrots,” she jabbed back. “Did you collect all of this stuff?”

 

“Uh-huh.”

 

“Why? And why shack up in a theme park?” Judy asked, gesturing to the fairgrounds out the window.

 

He leaned a little forward a little in effort to try and push the words from his mouth a little more clearly. “Mmmm…more alive here.”

 

“Huh. Well, that’s debatable.” She shrugged and examined him. Perhaps she’d decided to believe him when he’d said he would not eat her. Considering he was the first sentient Walker she’d ever seen, it made sense that she’d want a closer look. She leapt off the desk and took a new seat on the arm of the sofa so she was within arms reach. He looked at her as nervously as a Walker might be able to, but he kept her gaze as best he could.

 

“Your eyes are slitted,” she noticed.

 

“Mmm?”

 

“Your pupils. They’re slitted vertically, like a feline or a snake.”

 

“Is that…weird?” he asked, recoiling away from her slightly as she leaned in closer.

 

“Yeah. We’ve got a few foxes back home, and their eyes are round like mine. I’m thinking whatever turned you into a Walker did that too.”

 

N shrugged again.

 

Finally, seemingly satisfied with her prodding, she eased back away from the fox, which calmed him down. “N, I really can’t thank you enough for saving my life, twice now, but I really do need to get home. I’ve got an entire backpack full of very rare medicine, and it could save lives back at the Burrows. Can you help me get back safely? Please?”

 

_Double shit. She can’t leave yet, she just got here! Think of something quick. Something that’ll keep her around for just a bit longer. You’re a zombie. You know zombie things. Maybe a she’ll buy that zombies don’t hunt on Sundays?_

 

“N?” she asked after he’d remained nervously silent for a minute. “I swear, if you say ‘not safe’ again, I’m gonna throw something at you.”

 

“Ss—smell…” he bumbled.

 

“Hmm?”

 

“You smell…living. The others…will smell you… ” he said with little confidence.

 

“Isn’t that why you wiped blood on me like it was makeup earlier?” she asked, referring to how N had left a strain of blood down her cheek in order to avoid a swarm of Walkers more than once so far.

 

“We were lu—lucky. It’s too d…dangerous to make it to…bridge,” N explained.

 

“So, what then? Do I soak myself in mud?” she asked.

 

N shook his head and sat a little farther forward. She was buying it so far, at least. “Just wait,” he said with more certainty. “Your smell will ff…will fade.”

 

Judy crossed her arms over her chest and scowled at him. “You mean I’ll start to stink?”

 

He eagerly nodded his head and tapped his nose. “Stink… like a Walker.”

 

“How long will that take?”

 

“Mmm—mm…” He gave another shrug. “A few days?”

 

Judy let out an annoyed ‘harumph’, looking at her surroundings again. It was clearly not ideal. She did not look the least bit thrilled about the idea of staying in Zootopia any longer than she had. N was afraid for a moment that she might try to make another dash when she got the opportunity, and they were lucky she had not been torn to shreds the last time. She crossed her arms over her chest and thumped her finger against her chin as she thought things over.

 

“Alright then.” She sighed and got to her feet.

 

_Score!_

 

“I’m thinking a few days in a theme park can’t be that bad. Might as well kick up a sweat to get that stink going,” she said as she found a stack of vinyl records by the desk. She started thumbing through them, passing over a few of N’s favorites. “You’ve got taste N, I’ll give you that.”

 

“Vinyl has better…sound. More alive…” he mumbled from his seat.

 

“Hipster,” she scoffed and pulled out a record that had caught her attention. “Ah, this one is a winner. Moose Springsteen—now there’s a zombie I’d like to chat with.” She blew the dust of the record and gently placed it on the turntable. She was much more steady-pawed then N usually was when she placed the needle on the wax and waited for the music to start.

 

At first, there was the same soft sound of the needle dragging across vinyl. Soon the lively beat erupted from the cracked set of speakers on the table and immediately filled the room. Judy reached down to the dial and turned it up louder. The previously silent warehouse now reverberated with piano and drums playing a bright, upbeat tune with an easy tempo.

 

N noticed Judy’s foot begin tapping along with the rhythm. Soon she was nodding her head as well, and, before long, she was gently swaying along with the music. “… I went out for a ride, and I never went back,” she sang along softly.

 

N was entranced by by this strange, amazing creature in front of him. She was now full-on dancing and singing along with one of his favorite records as if she didn’t have a care in the world. Judy had many things to worry about, of course, but right then it didn’t seem to matter to her. She was so alive in that moment, dancing in his run-down office. She turned her head, and N noticed she was smiling.

 

 _Ow!_ … _Again with the chest thing?_

 

N put a paw on his torso, not really sure what was going on with his insides. As strange as the feeling was, it was not entirely unpleasant. By the time he looked back up, Judy had danced her way over to him and beckoned him closer.

 

“Come on, N. Show me how zombies do it!” she invited eagerly.

 

N frowned and shook his head nervously.

 

“Aw, come on! If you’re gonna be stuck with the living for the next few days, you might as well get used to it.”

 

Judy took his left paw and leaned her weight backwards, dragging him off of the couch. He reluctantly got to his feet and joined her in the center of the room. She continued lightly hopping from one foot to the other in time with the music, letting her hips sway a little between each hop and waiting for him to join in.

 

“Come on, N. Dead doesn’t mean boring,” she teased him.

 

N scowled and looked down at his slouched posture and laughable physique.

 

 _This is ridiculous. Statues dance better than me. Not sure what she’s expecting. Come on, N, see if you can do that sway thing._ … _There we go. Left, and right, and left, bend your knees_ … _Gah, this is stupid! I look like a child that needs to pee!_

 

“There you go!” Judy urged him on further. She giggled lightly and gave his hips a shove with hers, nearly knocking him over. “Can we play the music over the speakers in the park?”

 

N’s eyes widened a little and he nodded, partially thankful to get an excuse to stop dancing. He flicked a few switches on the amplifiers by the desk, and the same music they were listening to started emanating from various speakers around the park. Judy eagerly looked out the window and started to see the theme park for what it used to be.

 

“Come on, N. Let’s eat up some time with a few carnival games!”

 

Judy led him around the various booths and carnival challenges. N had spent much of the night fixing them up, and he couldn’t help but smile a little when he saw her enjoying them. She first tried her paw at a simple game trying to knock bottles over. While her aim was good, the game was designed to keep at least one of the bottles on the table, even when hit directly.

 

After calling bullshit, they moved on to the next one, a strength contest with a giant mallet. Despite her size, she was surprisingly good at that one. She used her powerful legs to get some momentum going before pulling the mallet down hard and sending the stone all the way up to the bell, which chimed with a satisfying ‘ping’. Any time she won, she’d carefully examine the wall for the least rotten prize and then happily carry it off with her to the next challenge. With the music continuing to play while they ventured from game to game, something caught Judy’s attention.

 

“Oh! This is perfect!” She dashed behind the counter of one of the booths. After digging underneath a table for something, she re-emerged with a straw boater-hat and brightly colored cane in her paws.

 

“Come’ere N!” She hopped up to his eye-level and slapped the old hat on his head before thrusting the cane in his paws. She gave a satisfied smile at her handiwork. “Now we just need a red and white striped jacket for you, and you’d look like a regular carnival barker. Come on, zombie-boy, let’s here your best entertainer impression.”

 

_What on earth is she talking about?_

 

N blankly looked back at her with a skeptical scowl.

 

“Just stand behind the counter, and say things like—”she dropped into a chipper accent that sounded a century old—“‘Step right up! Come test your luck!’. You know, things like that!”

 

N rolled his eyes again and shuffled behind the counter with the silly hat on his forehead.

 

_Thank god no other walkers are in here to see this. Pretty sure the first time I died was via humiliation like this. But hey, the girl wants a show. Guess I’m lucky that the hat seems to fit perfectly._

 

“Heya c—Carrots, care to…test your aim?” he muttered and gestured to the targets to his side with the cane. Judy smiled and gave a slight skip when he started playing along.

 

“What do I get if I win?” she asked, picking the smallest air-powered rifle up with her paws.

 

“Any of t—these fine prizes…” he said and motioned to the plush toys of various mammals with smiling faces. “And if you l—lose, I’ll…eat your brains.”

 

“Oh, sure. Okay then,” Judy giggled. “Pressure is on. Good thing I’m one of the best shots in the Burrows!”

 

She cocked back the rifle and let the first shot rip at one of the plastic targets scattered amongst a small replica of an old western town. Her shot connected dead center and knocked the target over. She fired a few more times, each time landing a hit and knocking the various targets over with a satisfying ‘clink’ and subsequent bell chime. By the time her gun was almost empty, there were only a pawful of targets left, and they were the easy ones.

 

“Well d—d…done,” he groaned. “You live another night.”

 

N turned back towards Judy to find that this time she was aiming the rifle right at his head. He yelped and managed to duck his head the moment before she pulled the trigger. The small beebee flew right through the front of his thatched hat and out the other side, narrowly missing a spot between his eyes. He looked at her nervously as she blew the steam from her rifle.

 

“You can bring my prizes to the next one,” she said with a wink, and, with that, she turned on her heel and continued on to the next game.

 

_Best shot in the Burrows alright. Mental note: This bunny does not exaggerate._

 

After a few more games, Judy seemed eager to do something a bit more exciting. She looked around at the warehouse, noting the tracks that ran along the edges, twisting and turning here before looping around there. Given her age, she was likely too young to ride any roller-coasters before the deadrising.

 

“Hey N, does that roller-coaster work?” she asked.

 

N could only shrug back at her, which gave her all the permission she needed.

 

Two minutes later, she was pushing buttons at the controls at the roller-coaster launch platform. There was barely enough power from the generator to get the wheels moving, but, eventually, she got the train of cars to start creeping up the first climb. They let the first train make a round with empty seats, to make sure the tracks would not fall apart.

 

“Nnnnot gonna work,” N said skeptically.

 

“Aww, come on. We can give a try at least!” Judy watched excitedly as the train finally started rolling past the first hill and flew down the first drop. The thunderous roar of wheels on metal echoed through the theme park as they watched the rollercoaster spin past them and around the warehouse. It squeaked loudly a few times when the corners were sharp, but that was likely because the moving parts hadn’t seen any lubrication in eight years. Despite the squeaking, the train did finally make its way back to the platform. N frowned.

 

“Good lu—luck, Carrots,” he said and began walking towards the ride’s exit.

 

“Oh! Don’t you run away now, Mr. Deadfox. You’re coming with me!” She gave his back a firm shove.

 

N’s eyes widened as she continued to push him towards the first row of open seats. He protested with a few more grunts and moans, but she was surprisingly good at knocking him off kilter. He fell backwards into the open seat in the front car. Judy slammed the restraints down, holding him in place.

 

“Looks like the first row is just our size too,” she noted as she hopped back to the controls. “All passengers aboard!”

 

“Ww—wait!” N cried out as she hit the dispatch button again, and the train began to set off. She quickly jumped into the seat next to him and slammed the restraints down around her as well.

 

_What the hell is she thinking?! I can’t feel pain, but that doesn’t mean I want to get mangled up when this thing comes crashing down! This is stupid. This crazy bunny is gonna re-kill me! There must have been a whole team of mammals maintaining this thing back in the day, and it’s been years since then! Ohhhhh crap, we’re high up. How can we be this high up and still be inside? GAH!  What’s that thumping sound?!…. Oh, it’s just her feet. Wow, she’s excited. If I wasn’t about to die again, I’m pretty sure I’d think that’s adorable. Shit, we’re at the top…. Please don’t crash._

 

“Here we go!!!!” Judy lifted her paws in the air as they began to descend. N felt what was left of his stomach turn as they began to dive. They plummeted for a few seconds before quickly veering back up. He could hear her shout with joy and laugh hysterically as they turned and dashed around every part of the warehouse. The ride shook him vigorously and the wind whipped through his fur. N was gripping the handlebars so tightly that his claws dug into the foam.

 

“Here comes the loop!” she cheered and tapped his shoulder, as if he didn’t already know.

 

“Carrots!!!” he shouted as they zoomed upwards and over. The coaster slowed for a moment when they got to the top of the loop, and N was afraid for a moment that they’d be stuck upside-down. Thankfully, the coaster continued and carried them back through a few turns before mercifully stopping on the platform again. They came to a stop, and the restraints automatically rose from their waists.

 

“That was so much fun!” Judy grabbed a fistfull of N’s hoodie in excitment. “Can we do that again?”

 

“Kill me first,” N scowled.

 

“Oh, don’t be such a wuss. You’re already dead, how bad could it be?”

 

N used the handlebars to help himself out of the car and away from that crazy, suicidal rabbit. She sighed and followed him off from the platform. When she caught up to him, she slugged him on the shoulder and thanked him for the ride.

 

“Let’s do something that you want to do,” she suggested.

 

“Mm?” N cocked his eyebrow.

 

“Come on, I know you’ve got some imagination up there. What do you want to do in this theme park? We’ve got plenty of time.”

 

_How about something that doesn’t involve almost dying?_

 

N turned and led Judy to a dark shed with the words ‘House of Mirrors’ printed in decaying letters over the door. He led her inside and flicked a light switch on the wall. A few of the lights flickered on, but most of them were dead. The ones that were working illuminated a narrow path of mirrors pointing in every direction. Judy figured it was some kind of maze.

 

“Wow,” she said. “I’ll give you credit, this is fun.”

 

“Don’t…get lost,” he grunted.

 

“Why? Is there something dangerous in here?” she said skeptically.

 

He gave her a satisfied smirk. “You mean b—besides the...fox zombie?”

 

“Oh yes, how could I forget…. Oh, look at this! This mirror makes me look tall.”

 

N wandered next to one of the mirrors beside Judy and looked at his distorted reflection. It vaguely reminded him of a poster for some horror film he’d seen in the city once. He moved on and found himself a funky mirror that made him look rather fat with a round face. His feet were enormous as well. He stared for a moment before he heard the sound of muffled laughter from his side. Judy was covering her mouth and snorting in an effort to contain her chuckles.

 

“Something funny c—-c…Carrots?” he asked her.

 

“That mirror makes you look a lot like my friend Gideon.” She laughed a little harder.

 

“He a Walker too?” he asked rhetorically.

 

“Course not. You, my friend, are the only Walker I have the pleasure of knowing. But he is a fox.”

 

“S—same thing then,” he said with a shrug and continued walking through the maze.

 

“Hey, that’s not fair. He’s a good guy, really. I mean, he was a jerk when we were kids, but after the world ended, we kinda had to make friends where we could find them.” She continued to chat as she followed him through the maze. “The Burrows used to be pretty speciesist against predators, foxes specifically. But when the majority of mammals are flesh-eating undead monsters—no offense—we learned pretty quickly who our friends really were. He’s a regular at my family’s burrow these days, and no one gives him any grief for being a fox anymore.”

 

“Sounds nice,” N said flatly.

 

“I guess it’s one bright side to the apocalypse.”

N stopped. A light flickered on above him, and he caught sight of his normal reflection in a regular mirror. He could see his blood-soaked clothes and slitted pupils, marring him like soot cast upon fresh snow. He looked just as malignant and out of place as his reflection in the previous mirror, only this mirror reflected the truth. It was hateful, yet it took him a while to tear his gaze away from it.

 

 

 

N nodded and led her out of the house of mirrors. He had forgotten why he took her in there in the first place.

 

 

* * *

 

 

The carousel was blissfully peaceful by comparison to the rollercoaster. The seats were swings, with chains that were held on by plastic birds dangling from the ceiling. Most of the lights were working just fine, but the music the ride played was a little unsettling since the bells were either broken or out of tune. None of that bothered Judy. She swung herself gently back and forth as the carousel made its way around. N seemed perfectly content with standing near a handlebar to hold onto for balance and watching her quietly.

 

The world hadn’t ended for Judy Hopps. Despite all the horrible, disturbed events that had turned the city, along with the rest of the world, into a hellscape, she could still find something to smile about. She undoubtedly wanted a lot from life, to help mammals that were still living or to fix some things that were broken in the world. But in that moment she was content to with nothing but a swing, lights, music, and a friend.

 

She could feel N’s eyes on her, but they didn’t carry the same imposing sting they had before. On the surface he looked terrifying, but Judy knew that he had a curious wit behind those eyes, so she felt comfortable letting him observe her freely. She only wished that she could know what was going on in his head. Something about him told her he was more than he appeared, and not just because he had a hard time speaking. He clearly had things to say, so what was he thinking?

 

“Gotta enjoy the little things,” Judy said, after a moment of letting N watch her on the carousel. “There aren’t many little things left, after all.”

 

The ride came to a stop, as did the music. The lights were still flickering on and off here and there, and Judy’s eyes drifted to the floor. She sat quietly, letting the swing coast to a stop and folding her paws on top of each other thoughtfully.

 

She spoke softly without removing her gaze from the ground. “Hey N?”

 

“Mmm?” he moaned back.

 

“There was another bunny with me, back in the hospital. His name is Jack. He...he died back there, didn’t he?” she asked, looking up at him with a contemplative look on her face.

 

N looked away for a moment, but he did not struggle to speak like he normally did. Judy could tell that he was trying to approach the subject gently. After another moment, he simply nodded slowly with a sad expression on his face.

 

“I thought so,” she said solemnly. “Will he come back as one of you guys?”

 

He held his somber expression and shook his head lightly.

 

She frowned slightly before nodding in understanding.

 

“I guess I’m sad he’s dead. I mean, he was an s-class jerk, don’t get me wrong. But I never wanted him to get hurt…. I guess, mammals die so often these days, it’s hard to be sad for every last one of them…. I just hope Kris made it out okay.”

 

“Y—you’re not dead,” N offered consolingly.

 

“Thanks to you.” She gave him a soft smile. “Hey, I’m sorry for what I said earlier, when I called you a monster. It’s not a very nice way to react when someone saves your life.”

 

“I get it,” he said slowly. “I’ve been c—called…worse.”

 

“Yeah?” she asked gently.

 

N winced, seemingly upset with bringing up the subject. They were having such a pleasant time, but it seems they had finally landed on the seven-ton whale in the room: N eats brains.

 

Judy waved him off and rose from her swing. “I won’t pretend like you haven’t eaten anyone before, N. But I’ve killed plenty of Walkers, so I guess we’re not too different.”

 

“Hhmm,” he said with a relieved smile. “I know. You’re g—good with a knife.” He gestured to his chest where there was a dark spot from when her own throwing knife had pierced his body and clothing.

  
“Yeah.” She laughed lightly. “I’d say I’m sorry, but it didn’t look like it hurt.”

 

“Only my feelings,” he jested.

 

That made her smile wider and slug him on the shoulder. He gave her a smug smirk back. His smile faded as he glanced up at the windows. Following his gaze, she noticed how dark they became.

 

“W—we should shut things d—down,” he said. “Walkers might see lights at night.”

 

“Yeah, good call. You got a book or something for me to do before bed?”

 

N eyes and ears perked up, and she could see the gears in his head turning.

 

“You l—like movies?” he suggested.

 

Her jaw practically dropped and her eyes widened in surprise. “You have movies?!”

 

“And a TV. I’ve been collecting—”

 

“Yes! Let’s go!!” Judy took him by the wrist immediately and dragged him towards the office.

 

After they had finished shutting down all the lights and power to everything except the office, they wheeled out an old tube TV set that had somehow survived the looting during the beginning. Then again, the entire theme park had somehow been safe from the deadrising, so it wasn’t too surprising that the TV had made it too.  
  
They flipped through whatever DVDs N had been able to scavenge over the years. Judy was unimpressed with the vast amounts of vampire romances that  existed, but eventually she found an action-thriller that caught her eye. They watched it together from the same sofa she had spent the previous night, Judy sitting a respectable distance from N with a blanket around her legs.

 

By the end of the film, she was clutching her carrot pillow. N would roll his eyes whenever the main character said a zingy one-liner, but she could tell he didn’t hate it. The movie was just nearing the end when he saw Judy raise her paw up to her mouth and yawn widely.

 

“Nn—need sleep?” N offered.

 

“Hmm? Oh, I’m just a little tired is all,” she got out, before another yawn escaped her mouth.

 

“You sl—sleep,” he said with more resolve. “See you in m—morning.”

 

“Where are you sleeping?” she asked him lazily.

 

“Don’t sleep,” he answered flatly.

 

Judy was a little embarrassed for suggesting it. “Oh, I see. Sorry.”

 

“Come.” He ushered her up from the sofa. She furrowed her brow at first, but followed him to the door all the same. He limped over to the doorway to the office, standing right at the threshold and motioning for her to close it on him again.

 

“Lock,” he said, pointing at the door knob.

 

“Oh,” Judy said, catching onto him. “N, I’m not worried about you anymore, okay? I know you’re not gonna come in and eat me in my sleep.”

 

“S—safe…” N insisted.

 

“N—”

 

“Please…Judy.”

 

Judy looked up at the fox, whose eyes were sincere and more than a little concerned. Thinking back on it, that was the same look he had given her when he had guided her out of the hospital safely. Right then, it was easy for her to forget about the bloodstains on his clothing or the slits in his eyes.

 

“Okay,” she surrendered. “Hey listen, N. Thanks for today. I’ve needed a break for a long time.”

 

“Sleep…well,” he muttered softly and smiled at her.

 

She smiled back and swung the door slowly, gently pushing it closed and pressing the lock in with an audible click. She heard N jiggle the knob from the other side, just as he had the previous night, before hearing him slowly make his way down the stairs and out of earshot.

 

Once he was gone, she turned back towards the sofa and reached into her jacket pocket. There were two AAA batteries still in her pockets from when she had avoided that Walker lion in the drugstore earlier that day. In the other pocket, sat the tape recorder she had lifted from Zootopia General Hospital before the Walkers had found her and her team.

 

Judy placed the batteries in the recorder, hoping to the powers that be that batteries did not have some kind of expiration date. If they did, then she was lucky these batteries were still working because a little red light appeared on the recorder as soon as she slotted the final battery in place. She hit rewind, then she hit play.

 

At first, there was nothing but the sounds of distant conversations. She couldn’t make them out, but after a certain point, a clear and calm female voice began speaking to her.

 

“March 5th, 2020. Research log for Day Two of the new epidemic sweeping Zootopia. Early attempts at diagnosing the afflicted mammals have proven to be useless endeavors. Clearly, whatever we’re dealing with is beyond our means here. Symptoms are consistent regardless of species, which is baffling the science community thus far. All vital signs, including heart rate, blood pressure, and body temperature are spinning to zero, yet the subjects are still moving. They are very aggressive and non-responsive, attacking any mammal not also afflicted. They’re…. The reports say they’re eating brains…. God, it’s like a horror movie,” the voice whispered in disbelief.

 

Judy held the recorder closer to her chest as she curled up into the blankets on the couch. Her head finally found the carrot pillow as she thoughtfully ran her thumb over the recorder’s speaker. After another cut, a new recording started, this time with a loud commotion going on in the background.

 

“March 6th…. This outbreak is tearing the city apart.” The voice was less calm this time, and Judy heard shouting going on in the background. “The government has declared martial law, but the police are overrun and packs of monsters are attacking citizens in the streets. I can’t even tell who is alive out there anymore.”

 

Another scream as the commotion in the background grew.

 

“They’re moving all hospital staff out of the city…. I think they’re gonna give up on Zootopia and try to get us out to the surrounding neighborhoods. Those idiots in City Hall, if they had just been honest from the start and let me finish my—”

 

The voice was then interrupted by another female, this one more frantic. “Doctor! We need to leave, the hospital is almost overrun,” the second voice urged the first.

 

“I’ll be right there!” the first voice answered. “I haven’t given up yet. There’s got to be an explanation for this. The mayor has provided me with a grant to continue my research in the hopes of finding out what the epidemic is, but he really seems convinced it’s armageddon just like everyone else. If you’re hearing this, we’re still trying.”

 

“Honey!!” the second voice called out again. This time, Judy heard the sounds of distant growls and snarling. The first voice, a Doctor Honey something, placed the recorder down and began walking away.

 

“Let’s get to Cliffside, go!” she called out, before the sounds of snarling and distant screams were all Judy could hear. She turned it off, knowing full-well that the rest of the recording would be nothing but more chaos since the doctor had left the recorder on until the batteries had died.

 

The sounds haunted her. She had been a young adult during the deadrising, but she was in Bunny Burrows, so it had all felt like some TV show at the time. This snarling and screaming brought it all back to life so quickly, it made her cold inside. Whatever became of those doctors was not good, since they had never found a cure.

 

A part of her nearly wanted to bring N back into the office, just to help get her mind off of the recording. But another part of her was reminded of what kind of creature N was deep down. The two parts of her brain battled for dominance, right up until she heard the distant sound of a howling Savage, at which point the fearful side won.

  
  
  


**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Special thanks to our second artist in the collab, give it up for FeverWildeHopps! Check out her tumblr here: https://feverwildehopps.tumblr.com/


	5. How Sweet It Is (To Be Loved By You)

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> I needed the shelter   
> Of someone's arms  
> There you were  
> I needed someone to   
> Understand my ups and downs  
> There you were

 

The morning hours felt much less imposing this time. The east-facing windows of the warehouse lit the room with the golden yellow sunlight that carried over the river. The stillness was less ominous and more serene, as if the world hadn’t ended and all the busy morning-mammals had simply taken the day off. 

 

Judy was up after the sunrise, quietly enjoying the last of her canned carrots and spoons of honey. It was hardly filling, but it was certainly better than nothing. Perhaps there was some carnival food that hadn’t gone bad yet in the diner across the warehouse. She’d have to ask N a bit later. And, speaking of the undead, she was beginning to wonder where he was.

 

She made her way to the office window and peered out over the quiet fairgrounds. She couldn’t really see much. The sun was only lighting so much of the park that early in the morning. Eventually, she caught some slight movement and found N sitting quietly on a carousel swing. Looking closer, it was the same one she had enjoyed the previous day. Judy tapped against the window loudly, and she saw him perk his head and look up at her. When his eyes found hers, she couldn’t help a small smile that crept up her cheeks.

 

She waved lightly, holding the blanket draped over her shoulders with her other paw. N softly waved back before rising from his seat and trudging through the fairgrounds. He limped up towards the office and knocked on her door.

 

“It’s open,” she called out, bidding him inside. 

 

“M—mmorning C—carrots,” he said shakily. His voice was a little less confident in the mornings. Perhaps, once he got some practice in through the day, his speech would improve. She noticed he was a bit more at-ease after talking with her for a while.

 

“Hey N, I was wondering something,” Judy started as she took a seat on her couch-turned-bed.

 

“Mm?”

 

“Do you remember anything from when you were alive?” she asked. “You did remember the first letter of your name, which is more than nothing. I figured there might be more.”

  
N frowned and shook his head, his ears twitching a little as he did. 

 

“Hmmm. What do you remember?”

 

“Uhh—h?” he stammered. 

 

“Come on!” she encouraged him. “You must remember something from before we met. How long have you been dead?”

 

“I d—don’t…know,” he admitted with a shrug. He looked around at his collection of knick-knacks, perhaps to re-trace his years of collecting them. With such focus in his eyes, she could tell that he was really trying to remember. 

 

“Nothing?”

 

“L—look, Carrots. Zombie’s d—-don’t keep journ _ nn _ nals or diaries. And even if ww—we could, I wouldn’t…wouldn’t want to.”

 

Judy folded her arms over her chest. “There’s gotta be something from early on. Maybe we can figure out how you died. What’s the first thing you  _ do  _ remember?”

 

N turned away from her and gazed out the window with a slight scowl on his face. She could not tell whether he was concentrating or just frustrated with himself. If she were in his place, there’d probably be plenty of memories that she would rather forget. And here she was, provoking him and butting into things that were none of her business anyway.  

 

Judy walked closer to him and placed a paw on his forearm gently. He was practically skin and bone, and she couldn’t feel any warmth beneath his fur, but she did her best to comfort him all the same. “Hey, N, I’m sorry I brought it up. Don’t worry about it, okay?”

 

“Lights,” he muttered. 

 

Judy’s ear twitched. “What?”

 

He closed his eyes and curled his paws into fists, as if he were struggling to squeeze the memory out like the last drop of toothpaste. “I remember...lights. So bright…. Eyes hurt.”

 

“Okay,” she ventured carefully, rising from her seat and getting closer. “Anything else?”

 

“A long road…and rain.”

 

“Hmm, like the Rainforest District?”

 

“N—no,” N shook his head. “No more rain.”

 

“Right, the rain probably hasn’t been running since the deadrising. Huh, I guess you might have died outside the city then?” Judy deduced. 

 

N could only look up at her and shrug. There was just so much left uncertain. 

 

“Don’t worry about it. You’re dead either way, so it doesn’t really matter,” she reassured him. 

 

He scowled. “Th—thanks. I had almost ffforgotten.”

 

Judy realized she hadn’t exactly been polite with that last remark. She dropped her ears in embarrassment. “Right, sorry.”

 

“I knn—know zombies with more s...social skills.”

 

“Hey, give me a break. It’s not like I have any experience trying to comfort a Walker. My previous experiences with them have all ended with gunshots.”

 

N turned around to face her and gestured at his chest with a cocked eyebrow. “Don’t forget the… the occasional throwing-knife.”

 

“I’ve only ever needed to do that once, actually.”

 

“Hhhow’d it go?”

 

She smiled and gave him a sly look. “Struck him square in the chest, but didn’t do much good. Lucky for me, he turned out to be a pretty nice guy. With his own theme-park and everything.”

 

He returned her smirk and dropped his jesting. He motioned to the door with one paw. “You wwwant to play some more?”

 

“Carnival games?” Judy asked and looked out the window. The sun was rising higher. If she waited much longer, her father was likely to get a search party to scour downtown looking for her and mammals were bound to get hurt or worse. She had to get a signal out to them somehow. Then she could get them to hold off until N got her out of there, but she was running out of time.

 

“N,” she said sadly. “I need to get home.”

 

“Mm?” he mumbled. 

 

“I know you said it is not safe, but you also said a few days would do the trick. Well, it’s been a few days, N.” 

 

He nervously shook his head. 

 

She furrowed her brow. “Why not? I can smell myself right now, and it’s honestly worse than you are at this point.”

 

“Little...mm—more time,” he said.

 

“Arghhh,” Judy groaned in exasperation and she thumped her foot on the floor. She turned away, giving herself a moment to cool off. She had been through this song and dance with others before, and it always went poorly when she reacted emotionally. Repeating a trick her mother had taught her, she breathed through her nose, out through her mouth, and faced him with a stern look on her face. 

 

“Let me tell you something about me, N. When I was little, I wanted to be a cop. I wanted to help others and make the world a safer place. The world ended before I could ever get my badge, but that isn't going to stop me from trying. My dad didn't stop me, Jack didn't stop me, and you won't stop me either. Mammals back home will die without this medicine, so I really don’t have any more time to waste. I’m going to bring it back one way or the other. But I really want you to be with me on this. So please, N, will you help me?” 

 

N did not say anything. Instead, he simply stood and stared at her with a faint, disappointed frown on his face. A few moments of silence passed between them. It was better than the grandstanding or dismissal she was used to in this scenario, but N didn’t look any closer to budging. 

 

Judy sighed and massaged her temple with her finger. “N, I know you’re worried about my safety. Believe me, I really appreciate you looking out for me. But I am more than capable of taki––”

 

“I know you are.”

 

That got Judy’s eyebrows to jump. It wasn’t just what he said, but how clearly he’d said it that surprised her. “You do?”

 

“A—all you need is…a weapon and y—you could fight o—off three of me. Plus, I’ve seen you shoot.”

 

“Heh. If you thought that was good shooting, you should see me with Gretta…. Wait, if that’s true, then why can’t I leave? Given how bad I smell and with the two of us working together, we could get me to the train-station at least, couldn’t we?”

 

N looked out the window over the fairgrounds. He muttered quietly with his ears down, “...we could.”

 

Judy stepped closer and spoke softly. ”Then let’s do it, N. I know we can pull it off if we do it together. I promise I’ll be as safe as I can, alright?”

 

N frowned and looked at the ground. He crossed his arms over his chest and turned away from her. His eyes drifted over the fairgrounds, wincing a little as he did. Eventually, his eyes wandered back up to her with a broken smile on his face. “Alright.”

 

“Yes!” She pumped her fist and smiled back at him. “Thank you, N!”

 

“We’ll g—go to…tonight. Only the prrrredators ha—hunt at night. Won’t be as mmmany Walkers.”

 

“Hrmmm,” Judy frowned. “If we can’t leave until later, is there any way we can try to get a signal out?”

 

“Ss—signal?”

 

“I mean, I really just need to stop my dad from sending in a search party, right? If they send in a platoon of troops in to rescue me, they’ll be in real danger. Not to mention that if they see you, they’ll…. It won’t be pretty. But maybe there’s a way to get word out to them. This city must have a radio tower or a electronics store somewhere, right?”

 

N’s eyes widened a little and shifted towards the shelves behind her. He hobbled over to them and began digging through a set of drawers. Judy watched as he tossed a few things over his shoulder and out of the way. She winced as one of them shattered into pieces on the floor. A moment later, he turned back around and approached her. He held something close, looking at her timidly. His eyes fell down towards his paws as he offered her something small and yellow.

 

“A walky-talky?!” she gasped. It was a clip-on style portable radio that had probably been used by the park staff at one point. “This is perfect!”

 

“But nn—no batteries,” he said with a frown. Judy flipped the device over and looked at the battery compartment, checking for their size. 

 

She couldn’t believe her luck. “Hang on!” 

 

She ran over to her backpack full of medicine. She found the small recording device she had listened to the night before and took the batteries out. Placing them into the walky, she looked over to N with her finger’s crossed and twisted the volume knob until it clicked. 

 

It beeped at her and lit up a small digital screen.

 

“Yes!” she shouted with a triumphant hop. 

 

“Try it,” N said, urging her forward. 

 

Judy mashed her finger on the button. “Hello? Is there anyone listening? Hello?” 

 

The channel was set to the same frequency she was used to seeing on Jack’s military issued walkie-talkie when he joined the forces. However, she didn’t hear anything but static, even after hailing as clearly as she could. 

 

“Hello!” she tried again. “This is Judy Hopps calling from Zootopia. Can anyone read me?” 

 

After another moment of static silence, she checked her reception. There was only one bar, and it was flickering on and off. She guessed that any signal she could put out was going right into the side of the cliff-face alongside the warehouse. “Signal’s no good. We’ll have to get to higher ground to get this to work.” 

 

“Hhh…how high?” 

 

“High enough to get the signal over the river. This thing probably has a five or six mile range. So if we could get somewhere we could see across the water, maybe we could catch a patrol or something.”

 

“A—are you sure?”

 

She looked back at him with a soft shrug. “We have to try, don’t we?”

 

N’s face hardened. He pondered something for a moment before turning towards the door. Judy prepared herself for another lecture on how it wasn’t safe or how he could try to do it all while she stayed safely behind. Strangely, he didn’t say anything. Instead, he walked down the stairs and wandered along the fairgrounds towards one of the game stands. She grabbed her jacket and her backpack and followed behind him with the walky in her paw. 

 

“N?” she called out as he shuffled behind one of the game’s counter and rifled through a large plastic bin. Seconds later, he emerged with a baseball bat that looked like the one she had nearly bludgeoned him with a few days earlier, only smaller and lighter. 

 

“This is mm…more your size.” He offered it to her. 

 

She looked down at the bat in her paw, gripping it tightly and smiling at him. “Thank you, N.”

 

“Only when th…the ‘play d—dead’ trick doesn’t work,” he explained. 

 

“Got it. If we get separated, meet back here? Right?”

 

He agreed and looked towards the door. “You ready?”

 

She nodded and shoved the walky into her jacket pocket. They exited the park slowly, peeking their heads out of the main door and searching the decrepit parking lot in front of them. There were a few abandoned cars, but otherwise it was completely still. 

 

“Lead the way,” she whispered.

 

N cautiously walked her along the parking lot and up a winding road. They were careful to check for movement before creeping along the lot outside the warehouse, weaving between the cars to stay hidden. Judy kept her ears down as they jogged from spot to spot, occasionally raising them to check for any nearby Walkers. 

 

They made their way up the roads, climbing higher and higher. Eventually, they were atop the cliffside that overlooked the warehouse. The streets were sparse and quiet, but it was a dangerous idea to hail for help from where they were. They had to be sure there were no Walkers in earshot. 

 

Judy hid behind a car and peered over the road in front of them. Looking down, she found an empty glass bottle and scooped it up. She signaled to her partner to listen by holding up her finger to her mouth and tossed the bottle out into the street. It shattered with a loud pop that echoed off the nearby buildings. They waited for a few minutes for any Walkers to appear from the nearby buildings or streets, but none emerged. 

 

“Hello?” she ventured into the walky. There was still only one bar, but at least it wasn’t blinking anymore. N tapped on her shoulder and gestured towards a truck in the road a few steps away. With how tall it was, it was likely meant for giraffes. She circled the truck and leapt up onto the back, rebounding onto the roof and quietly looking around. From where she was, she could see clear across the river to the other side. N stayed on the ground, keeping his ears tall and his eyes on a swivel. 

  
“Hello?” she ventured again, watching for movement. “This is Judy Hopps. Can anyone read me?” 

 

She was greeted with more empty static, and her batteries were already at halfway dead. She groaned, begging the powers that be that she could reach someone back home. 

 

“Hello! This is Judy Hopps. Can anyone read me?” she called again. Perhaps there was no search party coming for her after all.  “Anybody out there…. Please come in.”

 

“Judy?” Her walky chimed in. 

 

She nearly dropped it in shock, holding it close and mashing the button again. “Hello? This is Judy Hopps!”

 

“Judy!” the voice called out happily. “Holy cripes, you’re alive!”

 

“Benny?” she asked hopefully, recognizing the voice as her friend, Corporal Clawhauser. 

 

“Boy, I’m glad to hear from you. Where are you?”

 

“I’m in the city. Where are you?”

 

“I’m in a jeep, running a scouting mission!” he answered excitedly. “Your dad’s gonna be beside himself when he hears you’re alive!” 

 

“Scouting mission?” she asked. 

 

“Yeah. Your dad got approval for an all-out platoon raid to come out and look for you, on the condition that they send out scouts ahead to assess the place. I’m glad we did!”

 

“Listen to me, Clawhauser. You need to call off the search party. Keep them from coming to get me.”

 

“What?!” he called back. “Why on earth would we do that?”

 

“If you come to Zootopia guns ablazing, someone is going to get hurt.”

 

“You’re dad is not gonna stop till you’re home, Hopps,” he argued. 

 

“Don’t worry about me! I have a safe way to get out of the city.”

 

“How?” 

 

“There’s no time to explain,” she said. “Just hold them back until I get....”

 

Judy looked down at her partner, who was holding perfectly still. Even his tail had stopped swaying back and forth, and his grunty breathing had completely stopped. His gaze was focused down the road. 

 

Judy’s eyes widened and her breath caught in her lungs. Her stomach dropped instantly. It was a Panther. Its eyes were slitted. Its dark fur was caked with dried blood. It was hungry, and it was staring right at her. 

 

“Judy? Judy you there?” Clawhauser called out over the walkie. 

 

The Walker began moving towards them now, groaning a little louder. She quieted the speaker, but it would do her little good now. They had already been discovered. 

 

“I gotta go! Keep them back, Benny!”

 

With that, she turned off her walky and kept her eyes on the Walker that was now making its way towards them with a hungry groan. 

 

N looked up at her from the ground with a ghostly expression. “R—run.”

 

Judy turned and leapt from the truck down the other side, hitting the pavement with a roll and running back towards the streets they’d come up. N quickly fell in behind her, hobbling along as quickly as he could. The panther snarled and began running after her. If it was only one, they could outrun it, but his snarling was bound to attract more of them before long. Her bag jingled with the vials of medicine as she ran, practically calling out their position. 

 

Sure enough, Judy could hear more snarling coming from behind her as another Walker crashed through the window of a nearby shop and began chasing them as well. She was able to run fast enough to keep a good distance between them, but N had trouble keeping up. And their hungry barking was attracting more Walkers. Eventually, they’d be surrounded. 

 

She vaulted over an overturned car and turned tightly around a corner that lead to the same street that snaked down the cliffside. Her heart was pounding in her ears. Her paws shook terribly with every last lunge forward. The bat in her paw would be of some use, but she could not hope to fight them all off at once. This was life or death.

 

More Walkers were practically waiting for her at the base of the cliffside. She cursed and turned down a different road that she prayed would somehow loop around back towards the safety of N’s warehouse.

 

A gazelle with half his jaw missing popped out from behind a car in front of her, moaning menacingly. Judy gasped and stopped, turning back to find five or six more Walkers ready to gnaw her to pieces. They were only moments away from catching her.

 

Trapped on both sides, Judy spotted a mid-sized van with it’s rear doors hanging open. She had just enough space between her and the nearest Walker to make it through. N had fallen so far behind at this point that the other Walkers probably assumed he was trying to eat her as well. 

 

She darted towards the van, leaping inside at the last moment. 

 

“No!” N called out, just before she closed the doors with a slam. 

 

Judy backed away carefully, completely stuck and out of ideas. Thankfully, none of the Walkers that chased her were any bigger than that panther, but the van would not hold them out forever. She’d have to figure out a way to get N to lead them somewhere else so she could escape back to the warehouse. She kept backing away until her foot landed on something hard and pointy. 

 

“Ow!” She looked down to find a small porcelain figure of a fox under her foot. She noticed how clean it was. Seeing something so fragile survive this long was odd on it’s own. Looking at her surroundings, the inside of the van was stacked full of little knick-knacks. Stock-picture frames, headphones for various mammal sizes, and a few ruined baseball cards were scattered around the interior. As the van shook slightly from the pounding outside, Judy thought it did not look entirely unlike N’s hideout. The realization made a shiver run down her spine. 

 

That’s when she heard the growl. Judy turned around to find two violent eyes staring daggers at her from the other side of the van. 

 

“Scat!” she cursed and leapt upwards as the figure darted forward with a snarl. She barely  missed the teeth as the Walker’s big floppy ears grazed her belly. She landed on the the other side of the van and readied the bat in her paws. 

 

The mammal looked vaguely like a fox to her, only much smaller than N. Its brown slitted eyes were angry and fierce. Part of one its large ears was missing, and the blood stained fur under its chin meant that this one was not to be taken lightly because of its size. 

 

The Walker darted forward again. Judy smashed the bat underneath its chin, sending it tumbling backwards. It regained its footing and leered at her again. This Walker was quick. Nearly as quick as she was. It lunged at her again with its teeth bared. 

 

This time she jumped up into the front seat of the van and looked around for a way out. The Walker pounced forward with its teeth. She brought the bat up. It bit down. Teeth ground down on the wooden bat which splintered. The Walker kicked her backwards, sending her into the dashboard. It tossed the bat across the cabin. 

 

Before she could leap across the center console to grab it, the smaller fox appeared between her and the bat. Its lips curled upwards above its canines. Its claws tore at the cushion below him. Judy backed up slowly, feeling the seat behind her cut off her retreat. 

 

“ssHRHRAAALLRRGHH!” the Walker snarled as it pounced for her neck. 

 

With her heart positively pounding, she leapt to the side again, this time with the seatbelt in her paw. She drew the restraint outwards, catching the fox by the neck. She quickly wrapped it around the Walker once before kicking at its rear as hard as she could, sending it into the seat face-first in a tangle of teeth and safety-strap. 

 

“Gotchya!” Judy grabbed the bat and gripped it firmly in her paws. The seatbelt trick would not likely hold it for long, so she had to escape that van before it tore her to pieces. She took the bat with both paws and swung it hard into the driver-side window. The window shattered with a loud pop. She bounded out of the van. Thankfully the other Walkers were still focused on the rear door, giving her just enough space to get by them. 

 

It did not last, however. Soon they were back on the chase, with the smaller fox leading the charge. 

 

“N?!” She called out, but she couldn’t see him anywhere. Judy kept the bat firmly in her grasp, turning back towards the road she knew led to the Warehouse. She rounded one corner. Then another. But, this time, the beasts behind her were gaining on her. She was tiring out. Her pace had begun to slow, but they were relentlessly moving on as if fatigue did not exist for them. Perhaps it didn’t. 

 

“Agh!” Judy squealed as she turned another corner to find the same panther from earlier waiting for her. She raised the bat up in front of her just in time to block a swipe of sharp claws from tearing her in half. The claws left a serious gash in the the wooden bat, but it was still solid enough to swing at the Walker once or twice to get him to back up. Those precious few moments were all she had left, and soon the rest of the Walkers surrounded her. Her back was against the wall.

 

“Crackers…. Cheese and crackers,” Judy continued to curse as they slowly loomed forwards. One racoon angrily swiped at her. She swung her bat at it, catching it in the temple and flinging it backwards. A gazelle took its place and moaned as it drew closer, pressing Judy back until she retreated into solid brick. 

 

Judy’s eyes darted between each Walker, her mind racing for options. She was out. They had her pinned. And, while she might be able to fight off one of them, the next one to reach out would nab her before ripping her apart. Her bat began to shake as she pointed it at each Walker that took a step closer, hoping to feel threatening in any way possible. The small fox from the van made the next move. It reared on its hind legs and pounced forward. Judy could see it coming, so she readied the bat to swing at him. 

 

Just then, the panther struck again. This time it ripped the bat out of her paws and flung her to the ground with a hard thud. Judy barely had enough time to look back up before the small fox was in the air lunging at her with his teeth ready to sink into her chest. 

 

From the corner of her vision, Judy caught a green hoodie fly out and dig a shoulder into the smaller fox. The tackle threw the smaller fox backwards onto the concrete. 

 

“N!” she cried out as the mangey red fox snarled at the oncoming Walkers. 

 

The racoon lunged again, this time at him. N easily shoved his elbows into the oncoming predator and knocked him away. He kicked at the smaller fox and gave the gazelle a hard shove, sending it stumbling backwards as well. The panther growled and swiped at him, missing his snout by a whisker before N pounced at it. He crashed into its hips and sent it falling backwards into a nearby car door. The window shattered on impact. N was out of breath, but he stood tall between Judy and the other Walkers. The group quickly regained their footing and approached again with murder in their eyes. 

 

N put both his paws up, pleading with the Walkers to halt their advance. He spoke clearly and defiantly, “No.”  

 

Much to Judy’s surprise, they stopped. 

 

“N,” she gasped. Judy stood back up. Her eyes locked on the Walkers around her. They kept walking forwards, but the snarling had stopped. Instead, they were each glancing between N and Judy with looks of confusion on what was left of their faces. 

 

“Stop,” N commanded with his face fierce and his paws splayed forward. The smaller fox approached again, angrily looking between N and Judy. Its growl died a little as it turned its face up to N with a confused glare.

 

“Living…?” the smaller fox uttered coldly. 

 

“...yes,” N replied, his paws still up and glaring right back at the smaller Walker.

 

The fox nodded its head, as if instructing N on what to do. “Eat…. ” 

 

“No.”  N dropped his paws and stood tall, looking down at the smaller fox with a calm but serious expression in his face. The Walker growled, its teeth showing in a snarl as it took another angry step forward. 

 

“EAT!” it barked. The voice was low and vile.

 

It was in this moment that Judy felt compelled to do something strange. Her survival tactics thus far had gotten her backed into a wall with hungry teeth in all directions, so she decided to go with her intuition. She stepped forward, standing right beside N in front of the other Walkers. She gently took his paw in hers. He did not look at her or make any motion to withdraw his paw. Instead, he gripped it a little tighter in his.

 

 

The smaller fox’s eyes widened, and its lips fell back down over its teeth. It stared at them for a moment, seemingly lost in confusion. Its brown slitted eyes fell to their paws, observing them like a child seeing a television for the first time. It was strange, but Judy could have sworn she saw its pupils dilate a little. 

 

Before N could get another word in, Judy heard a new growl. This one was low and chilling, coming from a larger mammal than anything so far. 

 

“Up there!” Judy hissed, pointing to the roof of a nearby townhouse. Atop the roof was the biggest Savage that Judy had ever seen. It looked like death itself brought to life. It had no fur, and its skin was as pale and grey as a corpse. The eyes were bleach white and fogged over completely. Yet, somehow, they were staring directly at her. If she had to guess, this one had once been a wolf. With such vile features and horrid decayed flesh, Judy could barely recognize it as a mammal at all. 

 

The Savage wolf reared its head and began howling with a sickening screech. The wailing echoed off of the surrounding buildings, and Judy had to cover her ears to keep the sound from splitting her skull. She winced as the hateful screeching continued for another moment before it died down. The echo bounced off of buildings from all around, seemingly from miles away. She opened her eyes, looking back up at the Savage and saw it returning her gaze with his fangs bared. 

 

“Run!” N pulled her along with him towards the street. 

 

The Walkers that had surrounded her simply stared up at the Savage with blank looks on their faces as the two of them ran paw-in-paw along the streets. The monster was after them in a flash. It chased them, down on all fours and drooling with hungry fangs exposed by rotted flesh. N’s grip around her paw tightened as they vaulted over more cars together.

 

“Think we could try the ‘be-dead’ trick?!” Judy asked urgently, feeling very certain she was about to die. 

 

“You’re nnnot that good an actor!” 

 

They continued sprinting away from the rabid creature. It was quickly gaining on them, but the warehouse was now in sight and the doors were just barely open. 

 

“Go!” He pushed himself forward as hard as he could. His running was limped and labored. Judy was trying her best to pull him along faster. She felt his grip begin to slip. She held it more firmly and bounded harder off the ground. She began to hear the Savage’s sickening breaths heaving as it charged at them. 

 

“Not without you!” She made a leap forward for the door. The two of them rolled on the ground.  The wolf snapped with its fangs above their heads, narrowly missing Judy’s ears. They tumbled through the doorway. Judy slammed her legs into the door. The massive door began to move, but not quickly enough. The Savage mindlessly pounded its shoulders against the door, it’s paw finding the gap and swiping madly. Judy threw the rest of her body against the door and tried to push it closed. N quickly joined her and threw his own shoulders against the mass of steel as well. The monster’s giant paws were so close to her that she could practically feel herself being ripped like fabric in a shredder. 

 

“Wait here! I’ve got an idea!” Judy took off into the warehouse. 

 

“What!?” N cried out. He dug his feet deeper into the ground to prop the door closed. The wolf needed only a moment of mental clarity to realize how the door worked before it would easily push his way in and kill them both viciously. Judy darted into the fairgrounds, her eyes swiveling from one carnival stand to the next. She spotted what she needed and grabbed it from the pile of prizes. She rushed back to N holding a stuffed animal in her paw.

 

“Get ready to push!” She shifted closer to the beast’s slashing paws. The snarls and labored breathing sent chills down her spine. She held the large stuffed rabbit up closer to the sharply clawed paw. She tossed it forward as the beast swung for her again. The Savage yanked the stuffed bunny doll out the doorway and immediately pulled it outside. Judy heard the sound of tearing fabric mixed with vicious barking. 

 

“Now!”

 

The two of them shoved the door closed. N lifted the massive bolt across the slider with metallic creak, before slamming it locked. Judy huffed and fell to the ground with a slump. N kept his paws tightly wrapped onto the bolt-lock, as if the Savage outside could somehow unlock it with sheer fury. Outside they could hear growls and desperate chomping as the Savage ripped the bunny-doll to pieces. 

 

“Clever...” N said softly. 

 

“That won’t hold him forever.” The relief of not being dead quickly wore off. “Good thing there’s only one of them.”

 

Just as she finished speaking, she heard the wolf howl again from outside, followed shortly by more howling from more Savages approaching from the other side of the warehouse. She really needed to learn when to shut the hell up. 

 

“Only two?” N said with a hopeful shrug. There was a horrible pounding against the rear wall of the warehouse that boomed throughout the fairgrounds. Whatever kind of monster was rapping against the other door, it was much bigger than the wolf Savage. 

 

“We need to get out of here,” Judy realized. “Could you distract them somehow? You’re a Walker, can you lead them away from the warehouse?”

 

“They’ll smell you,” N explained. 

 

“That’s because I’ve been getting stinky the past few days!!” Her voice was angry and approaching terror.

 

“Mmmaybe there’s a b—boat in the shipyard?!” he guessed with panic in his voice. Another boom echoed in the metal walls. Judy could see a large dent forming in exterior wall towards the rear of the room.

 

“We won’t get something working fast enough!” She cried out.

 

“You run!” N said. “You run faster. I can give you time.”

 

“I’m not leaving you behind, N! They’ll smell me on you and tear you to shreds!”

 

“I’m al…already dead!” he barked back. “You have to go.”

 

“Shut up!” Judy commanded.

 

“Carrots, you have—”

 

“No, I mean shut up! I hear something.”

  
Judy’s ears swiveled as she picked up a low rumbling sound. Between booms coming from the rear, she could hear the faint sound of a car engine. It was getting louder by the second. At first, she thought it was a rescue operation, but there would have been bullets flying at the sight of a Savage wolf at the door. The engine noise grew louder still, becoming clearer and more pronounced in her ears than the booming from the other Savage. Whatever that car was, it was not stopping. In fact, it was speeding up. And it was coming right at them quickly.

 

“Move!” She shoved N down away from the door. There was a massive crack as the plate of steel flew off of its hinges and toppled over onto the ground in a crumpled mess. Judy turned around and looked at the hole where the door had been. The van’s rear end was lodged in the doorway. Beneath the wheels was what was left of the Savage wolf. She suspected the rest of it was still somewhere outside the warehouse. 

 

“What the hell?” Judy approached the van’s rear doors. This was the very same van she had taken refuge in from the other Walkers earlier before being ambushed by the smaller fox. The rear was now banged up, but it had the same decal on the side. The engine was running and the exhaust pipe was billowing fumes into the warehouse. 

 

Just then, the doors swung open, and Judy saw that same small fox-Walker standing on the bumper. She reflexively took a leap backwards and got ready for a fight. Strangely enough though, the Walker did not pounce. He did not snarl or crawl or even seem bothered by her presence at all. N stood between them, just as he had earlier. 

 

“No,” N repeated. “Not eating...”

 

“Want...” the little fox said with some effort. Its voice was low and raspy, but its eyes were no longer angry. It grunted and twisted his face as it tried to get more words out. “Want…to help.”

 

Judy’s brow furrowed as she looked skeptically between N and the smaller fox. “Oh, so now you want to help too? What is it with the foxes in this city?”

 

“Hhaaa... ” the little fox groaned, a faint but noticeable smile easing onto its face. It pointed to Judy with a shaky paw and looked over towards N. “...like her.”

 

“M—mm…Me too,” N said, before turning to Judy and lowering his paws. “It’s okay.”

 

Judy was still unsure, looking at the little fox with a frown. Just then, another boom shook the walls as the door at the rear of the Warehouse began to give way. 

 

“Fine,” she agreed, and reluctantly approached the van. “I’m driving.”

 

The little fox stepped aside and offered the van to her freely. It would have been a welcome gesture were it not for the slightly smug look on his dead face. She quickly got into the driver’s seat and sized it up, placing the pack full of medicine below her feet. She kept her eyes forward, but her ear reflexively turned back towards the Walkers who began to speak in hushed tones.

 

“Yy—you sure…about the b…bunny?” the little fox asked softly. 

 

“Yeah,” N answered. “Th—thank you.”

 

“I…I…” the little fox grunted, trying with all his might to speak. 

 

Judy glanced in the rearview mirror and saw that N had leaned down on his knee. He was at eye-level and looking at his friend seriously. His friend leaned in closer to speak in N’s ear. “I…can feel.”

 

Judy wanted to face them—to see what he meant—but there was another boom. “Let’s go!” 

 

“I’m in…C—Carrots.”

 

***CRASH***

 

The wall at the back of the warehouse finally gave way and allowed just enough light to see what monstrous nightmare had made its way inside. Her eyes widened as she gazed in terror at a massive, eleven-foot-tall elephant Savage. It was missing one tusk, and its hide was missing skin in several places. Its eyes were bleach white and desperate. It looked right at them for a moment, before taking a deep breath and roaring so loudly it shattered the windows to the park office. 

 

“Go!” the little fox barked as he leapt from the rear of the van and onto the floor of the warehouse. 

 

Judy wasted no time getting the van in gear. By some miracle, the seat was raised and the pedals were adjusted for someone around her height. She stepped on the gas hard, the wheels screeching to life. The van was stuck in the doorway. The tires spun and squealed but the vehicle did not budge. Judy looked at the elephant through the rear-view mirror. It demolished N’s fairground game stands like they were made of paper. Giant splinters and more stuffed bunnies flew in every direction.

 

Finally, the tires caught their grip and the van thundered forward into the street. Judy had to swerve around the various decrepit cars in the road. The van swayed from side to side like a drunken rhino as the tires squealed beneath them. 

 

“This thing was not meant for high-speed chases!” Judy shouted. She spun the wheel as quickly as she could. She caught sight of N stumbling about in the mirror as she swerved. Each corner sent him careening into one side of the van, conking his head with a metallic clang before stumbling back in the other direction. He tried to reach out to close the rear doors which flapped wildly, but he would likely fall out trying to reach them. 

 

The elephant exploded through doorway to the park and continued to charge. It kicked up dirt and dust as it barreled after them. Judy’s eyes widened in fear as the advancing monster plowed through cars like they were nothing. The Savage did not even seem to notice the hunks of rusted aluminum as it bashed through each car—its eyes still wide and hungry. It would catch up with them soon. 

 

“Turn!” N shouted as the elephant got nearly within trunk’s reach. Judy took a hard right at one intersection. The van lurched as she turned. The tires squealed but stayed on the road. 

 

While the van was no sports car, the Savage elephant could not corner nearly as well and tripped over its feet. The massive pale body slammed into a brick wall from a nearby shop and collected more dust and debris as it shook off the impact. It quickly began running again, but now with considerable distance to make up.

 

N shouted over his shoulder from the back of the van.“Keep turning!” 

 

“I know, I know!” Judy said, continuing to zig-zag her way through downtown Zootopia. They passed by a few Walkers of various sizes, but they all cowered at the sight of the massive elephant behind them. Judy could keep this up as long as the roads continued to be relatively clear. But, from her experience in the city, she knew there was bound to be a roadblock eventually. “I need to know where I’m going, N!”

 

“Go faster!” N cried out.

 

“Where?!?”

 

“Uhhh….” N mumbled as he turned away from the roaring beast and looked through the front windscreen. The fox looked out over the road, seeming to catch his bearings. He must have found where they were because he pointed and shouted with all the clarity he could muster: “Turn here!” 

 

“That’ll lead us deeper into town!” Judy protested.

 

“Just Do it—Ahhhh!” Judy turned hard, sending N falling backwards again. The Savage crashed through a phone booth and lamp post as it failed to turn again. It quickly resumed the chase with an angry snort. 

 

“Now where?” Judy asked. 

 

“Go straight!” N replied.

 

“What? He’ll catch up to us!”

 

“Carrots! Just tr…trust me!” 

 

The juggernaut was nearly on them. Judy spotted claw marks around it’s trunk and mouth where helpless mammals who were caught in its jaws had tried to claw their way to freedom, though it was doubtful they ever had. For an elephant Savage to last this long, it needed to eat plenty. And right then it was hungry for living flesh. 

 

Judy attention returned to the road ahead, and her stomach sank. “The road stops ahead!” 

 

“Keep going!” N shouted. “Www—when I say…turn.”

 

“Ugh!” Judy groaned and stamped her foot on the gas as hard as she could. She was counting on way too many miracles for comfort in that moment. Miracles like the fact the van was still working, that it had enough gas, and that the elephant had not caught up to them yet. Sooner or later their luck would run out, just like the road. 

 

“Almost there!” N was holding up a paw, preparing to signal to Judy in the mirror. N’s focus was not on the elephant. Instead, he looked at the stores they passed as they approached the end of the road. She glanced to her side. There was a bookstore and a hardware shop, with a little pawpsicle stand on the street corner. 

 

“Turn!!!” he bellowed.

 

Judy heaved at the wheel and and cried out as the tires nearly lost their traction. The turn was so sharp that the van lifted onto two wheels on one side, sending N crashing into the van’s wall. 

 

They had just enough space to see the elephant reach out with its trunk before trying to turn again. It failed, and this time there was nothing to crash into—just a sheer drop. Judy had turned down a street that ran along what was essentially a cliffside separating downtown from the Rainforest District. The elephant tried its best to keep its footing, but it tumbled helplessly over the edge and flew down the ground like a bag of carrots spilling over an overloaded truck bed. It blared its trunk like a trombone as it sailed downwards. Its dark cries echoed off of the buildings surrounding them. Just as the van slammed down back onto four wheels, a large puff of dirt and dust kicked up where the beast crashed to the ground. 

 

“Good…good job,” N said shakily. He reached out and pulled the rear doors closed. 

 

“Pretty sneaky move there, Slick.” Judy smiled at him in relief. “Now get me out of this town!”

 

“Turn left again,” N instructed her. She did, this time being careful not to go too quickly and risk toppling over. They continued down a stretch of road that led to a massive park that she immediately recognized.

 

“We’re almost at the station!” Judy cheered. Her triumph was short lived as a mass of Walkers began to close in around them. With the Savage elephant now gone, a hoard of snarling creatures chased after them with the same intent. Judy swerved to avoid a few Walkers that pounced at the van. “Hold on!” 

 

Judy stamped on the gas again, sending the van zooming faster forward as they drove into the Savanna Central Station lobby. There was a balcony with a safety rail that loomed over the train platform. There was no stopping the van now. They smashed through the glass and steel railing on the second level and sailed through the air. N floated with a squeal and Judy held onto as firmly as she could before they smashed down onto the platform on all four wheels. Judy’s paw slipped on the wheel, and she used her other paw on the dashboard to keep herself from flying out of her seat. 

 

“ _ How Sweet it is!”  _ She startled as a singer's voice rang out through the speakers. Her paw had landed on the stereo and it began playing whatever cassette tape was already loaded. The lighthearted tune was bouncy and bright, and it caught her off guard for a second. 

 

“Go!” N shouted from the floor of the van. She hit the gas again, and while the fall had caused some considerable damage to the frame, the wheels still moved and they continued forward. She drove off of the platform and onto the tracks, keeping the tires on the concrete aside the rails of the old Bunny Burrow line. 

 

“Are they still after us?” 

 

“No,” he answered her in relief.

 

There were a few Walkers attempting to shuffle down the broken escalator onto the platform, but, with the train station slowly vanishing from view, there was no way they could catch them now. The tracks from here on out were all hoisted high above the city and led all the way around the districts until they crossed the river. They were home free.

 

N gazed at the buildings below as they drove on. He was lost in thought as they blew past the only place he had ever known.

 

“You okay?” she asked him. 

 

“I’m dead,” N reminded her. “Are you okay?”

 

“I will be now that we’re on our way out.” 

 

She looked down below her feet, checking that her backpack was still there. She breathed a heavy sigh of relief, her paws still shaking on the wheel. The wind was blowing up into her face from the shattered window she had jumped through earlier while fighting off the smaller fox-Walker. She stayed focused on the path in front of her. Still, it was hard not to feel shaken but happy about narrowly escaping a thousand horrible deaths. N climbed forward into the passenger seat and joined her, his ears twitching as he noticed the music playing. 

 

“Classic.” He turned the volume up louder. 

 

“Wouldn’t take your friend for a love-song kinda guy,” Judy noted. “Or you, for that matter.”

 

“Who do y—you think he…got the music fffrom, Fluff?” N said simply. 

 

The cheesy love jingle continued to play as they made their way over the city. They passed the gloomy remnants of the Rainforest District and then the dried up mountains of Tundra Town, before making their way down Sahara Square. As Judy drove over the water and watched the skyline of Zootopia begin to shrink in the mirror, she leaned back in the driver’s seat and breathed a little easier. After what felt like an eternity in that hell-hole, they were finally out and across the river.

 


	6. Easy

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Easy like Sunday morning

The rain started softly as they made their way deeper into the woodland outskirts of the city. N could hear the patter against the windshield intensify as the rain began to fall harder, making it difficult to see the road ahead. They passed by highway exits with signs that were obscured by years of vegetation. N wondered where they’d led to before the Deadrising. Every now and again, he spotted the train tracks where the Bunny Burrows line stretched out over the countryside, connecting the city with Judy’s home. It wasn’t until they passed a sign that read ‘Deerbroke County’ that he realized he was getting wet. Judy’s fur was dripping from the spray that flew in through the blown-out window.

 

She shivered.

 

N leaned in closer over the center console. “We sh—should stop.”

 

“Yeah,” Judy agreed. “There’s an old suburban area up here. We’ll find a house and lay low.”

 

“Mm—moving in already? What will your ff…your father think?” N asked with a smile.

 

Judy rolled her eyes and smiled back, before stifling another shiver. “He’d kill you, N,” she answered sternly.

 

“Good thing I’m already dead.”

 

She smirked at first, but then grew quieter after that remark. “... yeah.”

  
N pointed out the windshield towards a neighborhood nestled in the trees. “Here?”

 

“Here,” Judy said with a nod and turned down a street off the highway.

 

The back road led to a forest suburb full of collapsing houses. The windows were broken. Some of the front doors were off their hinges, if not missing entirely and a few of the roofs had caved in from years of neglect. They had to swerve around a line of children’s bicycles that had been left knocked over in the street. N observed the desolation through the windshield. Each culdesac sported houses of a different size class, keeping like-sized neighbors with each other for the most part. The grass had completely overtaken the sidewalks and front yards, but there was still an air of quiet serenity amongst the vacant homes.

 

“This town was called Grazerville,” Judy explained with a hint of melancholy in her voice, seeming to notice his curiosity. “During the deadrising, most of these families fled back out to the countryside. Many of them are my neighbors now back home.”

 

“Ww—were there Walkers there too?”

 

Judy hesitated, seeming to choose her words carefully this time. “We dealt with a few in the beginning. They’d follow the refugees out into Bunny Burrows, but my family had been quick to build a wall to keep them out.”

 

N looked back out at the homes that so many families had left abandoned. A part of him had to hope that there was a happy end to their stories. “Did it work?”

 

“...for a while.” Judy slowed the van down and parked in front of a small house. They had stopped outside a small bungalow home that looked slightly less decrepit than the rest and at least strong enough to withstand the rain. It would have to do.

 

N looked the building up and down skeptically. “Homey.”

 

“I don’t care as long as it’s dry. Let me make a quick call before we go in.” He watched as she reached into her bag and pulled out the small plastic walky talky. To save batteries, she had kept it off during their drive. She turned it on and it crackled with static, before she pressed down on the button.

 

“Hello?” she called out. “This is Judy Hopps. Can anyone read me?”

 

They didn’t wait long for a response. “Judes!?” They heard a voice call back.

 

“Benny! Did you call off the search party?” she asked nervously.

 

“Yeah, but you weren’t making it any easier disappearing like that!” Her friend sighed in relief. “Where are you now? Are you safe?”

 

N scoffed. _We’re in Happy-Love-Fun-town surrounded by sunshine and smiles, of course. Population: 2._

 

“I’m out of the city.”

 

“How on earth did you—”

 

“I’ll explain later,” she cut him off quickly. “I’m stopping for the night. I’ve got a car, so I’ll be able to make it to the wall by tomorrow morning.”

 

“You stopped?! Bunny, I’m coming to get you right now.” He could hear the sound of a jeep roaring to life from the other side of the walky.

 

Judy and N exchanged a panicked grimace with fear in their eyes. If her friend was some kind of military, then he’d no doubt have a weapon with him and a healthy fear of Walkers like N.

 

“No!” she barked frantically. “Benny, just wait, okay?”

 

Her friend stuttered in confusion before snapping at her, “Girl, you get your tail back home now before your dad whips the spots off me!”

 

N smirked. “I like him.”

 

Judy shushed him and hit the button on the walky again. “Was he mad?”

 

“He’s furious that we had to call off the rescue op. I think he’s just eager to get you back safe. He’s not gonna be happy that you’re spending the night outside the wall.”

 

Judy sighed and rubbed her ear over the back of her head. She was clearly irritated about her father being so protective. N had the urge to say something to comfort her, but hesitated. He was the reason she couldn’t come home just yet.

 

Judy spoke into the walky again. “Just tell him I’m safe and that I’m coming home.”

 

“He’ll believe that when he sees it,” Clawhauser snarked.

 

“Do you believe it?”

 

They could hear him sigh. “Of course, Judes. But what do I tell him? That I _could_ go pick you up but decided not to?”

 

“Tell him the truth—that I didn’t say where I was. I’ll deal with the flak later.”

 

“You sure about this?”

 

“That’s an order, soldier,” she said resolutely.

 

_Wait. Is she military? I guess that would make sense. But I kinda guessed she’d be a foot soldier, if she was in the city. Is she like…a captain or something? Or is it because of her dad? Is he the General of their defence forces?! It would be just my luck that the one girl I get close to ends up being the goddamn General’s daughter. God, I hope that’s not it._

 

The voice came back on the radio with a grumble. “Fine, alright. I’ll cover for you, but don’t die okay? And keep your stupid radio on!”

 

“Will do. Hopps out.” She turned the volume knob down and glanced back out the window.

 

“Hh––hey Carrots…” N started timidly. “Are you like…an aa––army captain or something?”

 

Judy seemed to snap out of her thoughts and looked at him with a cocked eyebrow. “Hmm? Oh no, I was just kidding with the whole ‘that’s an order’ thing. I volunteer for supply raids, but I’m not enlisted. My dad is the one who commands most of our armed forces, since he was the one who built the wall. Why do you ask?”

 

N looked nervously out the window. “O—oh, no reason.”

 

_Fuck._

 

Judy sighed and clipped the walky back on her hip. “He’s gonna be very pissy about me staying out in Grazerville for the night, but I’ll think of some kind of excuse later.”

 

N leaned in closer to her over the center console and gave her paw a reassuring pat. “Th—thank you.”

 

Judy’s paw opened up and caught his, gripping it with a light squeeze. She smiled and looked at him right in the eyes. “Hey, don’t worry about it. I’m in no rush to see you die in a barrage of panic and bullets.”

 

N became suddenly aware of just how close he had gotten to her over the console. Even if he were alive, he’d be trespassing into dangerous territory. He nodded and sat up straighter in his seat. “And I’mmm…I’m in no rush to see you ripped to pi—pieces by a Walker. Wait here.”

 

Judy frowned as he withdrew his paw and moved towards the door. “What? Why?”

 

N simply pointed to himself. “Gotta ch—check the house.”

 

He opened the door, and his fur immediately became soaked. He walked with a skulk towards the house, wishing the rain would wash the sight of her smile out of his head.  His hoodie was sopping wet by the time he got to the front door. It wasn’t locked, but it still took some effort to muscle the door open. That was a good thing. Maybe it meant no Walkers had bothered to come inside.

 

N limped through every room in the house. It looked quaint and cozy—or it would have, if it weren’t for the mold on the walls and the household items scattered on the floor. Whoever had lived there had left in a hurry. There was still an empty pot on the stove and plates on the table, though any traces of food in the cabinets were long gone. He wondered if the mammals who lived there had made it to the Burrows safely.

 

The second floor had two bedrooms—one with a large bed and another with a tiny one that not even Judy would fit in. All empty. There was nothing of interest to him, so nothing that would interest another Walker either. The place was safe enough.

 

N went back down the stairs and moaned loudly, hoping to alert any Walkers that might have been hiding somewhere. Even another Walker’s groaning could get his attention if he was hungry enough. Once he was satisfied the house was clear, he turned to the door to call Judy inside. He noticed a coat rack by the door.

 

It was probably best, he decided, to dry his hoodie since it was still dripping. He’d reached down to undo the zipper, when he felt a lump of something in the pocket.

 

_Oh, yeah._

 

The rest of Jack’s brains were still in there.

 

N froze in confusion. Normally, he would have gorged them all down at this point, but, for some reason, he’d felt a little less hungry over the past few days. Still, it wasn’t exactly smart or polite to go waltzing around with Judy while her ex’s brains were in his pocket.

 

_Better get rid of these now while I can._

 

He peeked out a window in the living room, making sure Judy was still in the van, before reaching into his pocket. N pulled out the rest of the brains, now moistened by rainwater, and shoved them into his maw quickly.

 

The memories and visions began to wash over him.

 

* * *

 

 

In one moment, he was doing pushups amongst the ranks of other security forces. In the next, he was firing rounds from the top of the wall at some figures which were obscured by the darkness.

 

“Let’s go see what we got!” one of his comrades called out.

 

They marched down the stairs built into the side of the wall and came to a small door. It had a number-pad lock on it, and he punched in the combination before looking back to his friend and nodding, guns raised. They left the wall and scouted out the corpses of the Walkers they’d downed. They walked among the bodies, checking each one carefully––both for anything useful and to make sure they were dead for good this time.

 

His comrade leaned over one of the bodies and went through its tattered clothes. “Got a cell phone in his pocket.”

 

“Let’s just get back to the wall, Harris,” he answered.

 

Bullets. Pushups. More bullets. More pushups.

 

Soon he was in a briefing room, getting instructions on the next scouting mission for medical supplies.

 

“We’re on our last few vials of antibiotics, and winter is on its way,” a stout rabbit instructed the group. “We lost a few dozen last year to all kinds of illnesses that used to be no issue for us to handle. The Doc tells me that if we have a similar winter, we could lose hundreds. These are our families we’re fighting for. And we’re depending on your bravery to get us this medicine. Any questions?”

 

“No sir,” he responded dutifully. Out of the corner of his eye, he could see Judy sitting clear across the room with her legs crossed.

 

“Then head out. And keep each other safe.”

 

While they were on their way to the armory, he stopped Judy by putting a paw on her shoulder and spoke in a cold whisper. “We’re all going to be fine. As long as you do as I say.”

 

“No need for the theatrics, Jack.” Judy pushed his paw off her shoulder and spoke brusquely. “We’ll get the meds and get out, but don’t pretend to be in charge. I’m not in your army.”

 

He scoffed and let her go, watching as she slugged a shotgun over her shoulder and hopped into a military vehicle.

 

Soon they were in the city, and he was arguing with her and one of her friends. At one point, Judy had her knife against his neck and growled at him angrily. Then they were in a hospital, scouring it for supplies. Suddenly, they were shooting at a Savage mouse on the ground. He missed every shot he took.

 

Before he knew it, there were Walkers among them and blood pooling onto the floor. More shots rang out. He was up on the counter, sending rounds at the hoard of Walkers over and over. Then he saw a red fox Walker in a bloodstained hoodie, whose eyes were wide and shaken. He fired, which got its attention. He screamed in horror as the creature lunged forward and snarled, grabbing him by his feet and taking a firm grip of his head. He felt claws dig into his skin as his head was brought down to the ground.

 

* * *

 

 

“Aaeeugghhh!!—*cough*—ack!” N spat as he practically vomited the brains out of his mouth and into his paw. His vision came back to the present, back to the small house out in Grazerville, and he took large breaths to try to regain his bearings. He saw his own eyes glaring at him as his teeth sank into Jack’s neck. His own malicious gaze was now a terrible after-image, like he had stared at the sun. N reached up to his neck and rubbed it tenderly. It went back to being numb, thank heavens, but the echo of pain was still rattling through his brain. In that memory, he was some kind of monster.

 

_That was only days ago..._

 

“You okay, N?” Judy asked from behind him.

 

N turned to find Judy standing at the door. He didn’t know how long she had been standing there, but it’d been long enough to catch his confusion.

 

“Uh...y—yeah...ssswallowed a bug,” he feigned.

 

“You know, predators back home eat those regularly.” She looked around the living room. “I take it the place is clear?”

 

“Mmmhmm,” he answered and hobbled into the kitchen. He quickly tossed the remains of Jack’s brains into the sink and shoved them down the drain, making sure she would never see. His frantic movements made Judy furrow her brown in concern.

 

“You sure you’re okay, Norman?” she questioned softly.

 

“Fine,” N said with a grunt. “Wait…. Norman?”

 

Judy smiled and gave a light shrug. “Figured I’d try some another ‘N’ name out. Maybe it’ll jog your memory.”

 

N rolled his eyes and shook his head. “Nnn—not Norman. How are you?”

 

“I’m cold and wet and tired. I think I’m gonna hit the hay early. Is there a bed up there?” she asked, pointing up the stairs.

 

N nodded, thankful that he seemed to be successful at hiding his little secret brain-snack. She smiled again and began to walk up the stairs. Just before she passed out of view, she stopped.

 

“Hey N?” she said slowly. N lifted his ears and looked up at her from the livingroom floor. “You could…. Well, I know you don’t sleep but...”

 

“Could what?” he prompted.

 

“You could spend the night up here if you’d like,” she said, looking at the ground.

 

N froze. That was the last thing he had expected her to suggest. He glanced up the stairs towards the bedroom. He must have imagined his tail shifting behind him because that thing never wagged any more. He had to hide his excitement somehow.

 

“I d—don’t know, Carrots. What if there are mmmonsters in the closet?”

 

She laughed and rolled her eyes. “I’ll keep you safe, you big baby…. You did check the closet, right?”

 

“Yes I did, you big b—baby,” he teased softly and joined her.

 

_Okay N, no big deal. You’re just going to spend the night in the same bedroom...doing absolutely nothing because you’re dead. You can do this, just don’t barf up any more brains…. Oh crap, I can see her butt at eye-level up the stairs! Look at something else! Walls, ceiling, depressing photos of a family who are probably dead. Yeah, that’s better_ — _SHIT._

 

“Oof,” N grunted as his foot caught between two stairs and he fell onto his chest.

 

“N! You okay?”

 

He heaved a little, trying to get the air back into his lungs. “Mmm…I’m de—”

 

“I know you’re dead, idiot. I mean do you want some help?” she asked.

 

N looked up, finding her paw outstretched towards him with a warm smile on her face. The way the rain water glistened on her matted fur made her look like she was sparkling. Suddenly, he had to catch his breath all over again. He slowly reached his own paw out and took hers.

 

She gripped him tightly and heaved him back onto his feet. Judy kept his paw in hers as she guided him up the stairs and into the bedroom. That was the second time she’d held his paw. It felt strange. His chest ached again. He was completely unsure of where these spasms were coming from, but he didn’t mind it so much this time.

 

“This’ll work.” Judy, much to his chagrin, let go of his paw as they entered the larger room. “The carpet looks plenty comfy. I hope you don’t mind if I take the bed?”

 

“Mm-mm.” N shook his head and gestured to it as if to say ‘go ahead’.

 

He slowly lowered himself to the floor, allowing himself to roll over until he was on his back. Judy hopped up onto the bed, which, thankfully, was still somewhat tidy and not moldy. Suppressing the idea of joining her in there took more effort than he would ever admit. While he was fighting fantasies, she tossed a pillow down to N on the floor. It plopped right onto his snout, and he recoiled in surprise like a little kit. She chuckled as he scowled at her from the floor.

 

She shivered. “Argh. These clothes are drenched from the rain…. Hey, N?”

 

“Mm?” he replied as he placed his head on the pillow.

 

“Would you mind looking away for a minute?” she asked.

 

_Holy shit._

 

“Ss—sure,” he mumbled and looked back at the ceiling with laser focus. He could hear the vague sounds of things unbuckling and wet garments falling to the floor.

 

_Again, totally normal. She needs to change her clothes or else she’ll get sick. And I’m just a pal, nothing else going on here. This is fine. Everything’s fine._

 

N was holding so still he was almost convinced rigor mortis was finally setting in. He tried to simply relax his paws over his chest, but his fists clenched tightly as if keeping the gate to his own cage shut. His attention was all pointed towards a spot on the ceiling, and he tried his best to ignore the sounds of his friend stripping beside him. But his eyes moved on their own, the treasonous devils. He tilted his head back towards Judy ever so slightly, slowly making sure she wasn’t looking back at him and—

 

_Holy shit._

 

Her back was turned, but he managed to catch just the slightest glimpse out of the corner of his eye. He saw her grey fur, her slender shoulders, and that beautiful tail for just one second. That second was now burned into his vision deeper than any other memory he held. He quickly turned away again. He faced the wall and shut his eyes as tightly as he could, as if looking at anything else would erase the sight from his mind.

 

“It’s okay now, N,” she said softly, and he slowly turned back. She was under the covers, pulling them closer to her core and rubbing her face into the pillow. A comfortable smile grew on her face as she sighed happily and peered down at him. “That’s better.”

 

“Mmmm,” was all N could moan in reply, nodding.

 

She yawned. The hours of driving and running for her life had probably worn her down to the brink of sleep already. She spoke quietly. “Hey N?”

 

“Mmm?”

 

“Do you have to eat mammals?”

 

N swallowed hard and took a deep breath before gazing back at her with a somber look. “Yeah.”

 

“But you didn’t eat me,” she said with that same soft smile. “You saved me.”

 

“You.... It’s not like you need saving all th—that often.”

 

“Psshh,” she scoffed. “I counted…what, three times? I’d be dead or worse without you there. I used to spend so much time telling my father how I could keep myself safe. He always shot me down, saying that I was strong but still ‘just a bunny’. It took so much convincing for him to let me join in the supply raid a few days ago…. Guess he was right. I got myself in over my ears and mammals are dead now, including Jack…. Maybe I am just a bunny.”

 

“Mmmmo…more,” N stuttered.

 

“Huh?”

 

“You’re mm—more than…than that.”

 

Her smile returned. “Think so?”

 

“Carrots, I was nnnever afraid b…before you came around.” N found himself looking her right in the eyes. “You’re fast and ff—fearless and really good with a gun. You can literally put fear into the dead, and you can’t…can’t do that if you’re ‘just a bunny.’”

 

She was grinning even wider at him now. “I bet you wish I was a little more meek sometimes, huh? Might have saved us from the Savage-elephant fiasco.”

 

“Nah. You saved _me_ from tha—t one, remmm…remember? Besides, if you wwwwere ‘just a bunny’, I might have eaten you.”

 

She dropped her smile and looked at him very seriously. She spoke so quietly it was barely even a whisper. “Why didn’t you?”

 

N stared right back at her for a second, grateful that his stuttered speech could give him a moment to think without it seeming weird. There were so many ways he could answer that question, including just spinning it into another joke like he usually would. But there was a genuine tenderness in her eyes in that moment which compelled him not to smirk or shrug this time.

 

“I looked at you and I…I ww…I wasn’t hungry anymore,” he breathed.

 

Judy’s eyes widened a bit as she gazed back at him. “You know N, you’re pretty incredible.”

 

“Mm—me?”

 

“Yeah. It must be hard, being stuck in there. I can tell it’s hard to think, and even harder to speak. But I can see you trying.” Judy’s eyes wandered the room as she thought about something. “That’s what mammals do: We try. We try to be better, even if we suck at it most of the time. I’ve seen mammals who are so broken down by this world that they can’t even begin to try anymore.” Her eyes fell back onto N with an endearing curiosity. “But I look at you…you try so hard. So much harder than any of the living mammals I know. You’re _good_ , N.”

 

N frowned and suddenly lost the ability to look at her straight in the eye. He grunted in frustration, unsure of what to say or even what to do. He was angry with himself. His lip curled up above his canines for a second as his face twitched around.

 

“N, what’s wrong?” Her voice carried such concern.

 

“It…it was me,” he coughed.

 

“What was you?”

 

“J—Jack.” N looked up at her with pleading eyes. His body was stiff as stone.

 

Judy furrowed her brow in confusion for a moment. She opened her mouth as though she was going to ask him what he meant, then the truth seemed to dawn on her all at once. Her eyes wandered over his clothes, and he felt the urge to hide the bloodstains on his hoodie.

 

“Oh” was all she muttered. She pulled the covers around her a little tighter and looked away. “I guess…I guess I knew that.”

 

“Y—you did?”

 

“Yeah,” she answered sadly. “I mean…. I guess I hoped not but…”

 

“Mmmm…I’mmm…soo sorry, Judy,” N bumbled desperately, reaching out one paw towards her.

 

She turned over, facing the opposite wall. “Yeah.”

 

N dropped his paw and stared back up at the ceiling. He closed his eyes and wished with every part of his broken body that he could change. He wanted to go back in time and stop himself from killing Jack. He wanted to keep himself from eating anyone. He wished he’d never died or that the world hadn’t ended. He wished and prayed and pleaded for some kind of miracle to save him from the misery of having ever hurt that bunny.

 

Just then, a miracle happened. N’s mind slipped away, and he fell sound asleep.

 

* * *

 

 

The dark of night in Zootopia was always gloomy, even when there weren’t clouds and a chilling breeze to complete the nightmare horrorscape. It was the same desolate monster-infested hell-hole it had been for many years now. That night, however, one of the monsters who was usually brooding or listening to music in his van was quietly staring down at his paw.

 

Something about the way his larger fox-friend and that bunny had held each other’s paw was strange to him. The way they’d stood closely together, as if for more than protection, was odd. Not wrong, per say, but off-kilter. The little fox’s paw stretched out and then curled back in as he stared at it, hoping to make sense of what was going on in his head.

 

Maybe another walk would clear his head. He trudged around the city, scowling at the fact that his favorite van was now gone. All of his music and his collection from the past few years had driven away without him. Grief is what he should have felt, if he could feel.

 

However, for some reason he’d found himself eager to watch as the van had mounted the train tracks and driven away. His eyes had followed the van as they’d disappeared over the river and into the countryside. He had not growled in frustration, rather, he had been calm—perhaps even relieved. If his friend could hear any of those thoughts now, he’d probably have some smart quip in response.

 

The little fox bumped into another Walker, this one a familiar gazelle wearing a pink dress. She had also been there when the fox had thrown himself between them and the bunny. He was about to continue on his way, when he saw her looking down at her own hoof as well. She had the same look of perplexed focus, like she was wondering why on earth the bunny and fox had bothered her so much.

 

“Do you...” the little fox grunted. “...feel it too?”

 

“Mmmm,” the gazelle agreed softly with a nod. “Th—the bunny.”

 

“Me t—too,” another voice said. This time, it was the panther who had nearly gotten Judy as well. His torn t-shirt and pleated pants were blood-stained like everyone else, but his eyes were far less vicious than before. A group of other Walkers were trudging behind him, all with wide-eyed confusion on their faces. “I feel...”

 

“In...” The little fox struggled. “In my chest...”

 

The others nodded, a handful of them still gazing down at their paws.

A hideous snarl came from behind the little fox. The entire group turned to find a Savage beast prowling towards them. This one had been either a lion or a tiger at one point. It’s pale skin and glossy eyes were practically glowing in what little moonlight there was. But unlike other Savages, this one was fit. It had all of its skin still in the right places, muscles on its shoulders, and a full maw of teeth—teeth the Savage had fully-bared as it creeped towards the little fox. Claws were out, and it stared menacingly at the little fox as it got closer. Its cold breath blew the fur back on his nose.

 

It sniffed loudly. The giant nose prodded and huffed the little Walker’s scent while the Savage let out a long, low growl. Its eyes seemed to narrow as it caught something strange in his scent.

The little fox stayed frozen, the others looking on in shock as the massive killer roared loudly right into his face. The force of the wind from its vile breath knocked him over, and, for a moment, he thought he would actually get eaten.

 

The monster then chuffed and snarled in disgust as it turned away and sauntured off. The little fox rolled over and picked himself up off the ground. The other Walkers surrounded him and gazed at him with wide bloodshot eyes.

 

“O—okay?” the gazelle asked him.

 

“I...“ he began, gathering the attention of all the Walkers present. “I feel…afraid.”

 

“Feel?” the panther echoed.

 

The little fox nodded and looked back to where the Savage tiger had disappeared to. “We should go.”

 

* * *

 

 

N opened his eyes first, and the rest of the world seemed to flow into existence all at once. He didn’t yawn, stretch, or blink. He simply stared at the mouldy ceiling and tried his best to remember a few minutes earlier. Had there been light before? He couldn’t recall sunlight streaming in from the window. Had it been colder a few minutes ago? Hard to tell, since zombies don’t get cold. He was so uncertain. And, while it was true that some hours would melt together in an endless stream of consciousness, he’d never had such a long gap of time missing from his memory before. Certainly not recently.

 

“Carrots…” he mumbled, turning to look up at the bed she’d slept in.

 

She was gone.

 

N closed his eyes, squeezing them tight and grinding his teeth together. He desperately tried to hear something from downstairs, or perhaps from outside. There was some part of him that refused to give up all hope, but the rest of him knew the truth. He rose to his feet, shuffled over to the window, and looked out to the driveway where they had parked the van the night before.

 

_She’s gone..._

 

_Of course she’s gone. Wouldn’t you be? Doesn’t matter how well things go, I’m still a brain-eating monster. And now she knows I ate the brains of someone she knew. Granted, he was a prick. But it’s not like there was much chance of her taking me home with her anyway. There’s no explaining to your dad about your zombie…something. Fox? Zombie fox? Oh who am I kidding, I wasn’t anything to her. She’s killed more zombies than I’ve even met—and I live with them! What is one more dead freak of nature out the door in her life?_

 

N meandered down the stairs wearing a blank and unfocused glare, only barely taking in the world around him any more. He sauntered out the front door and began doing what he did best: walking.

 

_At least she didn’t cap me last night while I was out. Not sure what was going on there, but the universe just HAD to grant me a night of sleep so I could wake up dumped. And now she’s gone. And I’m alone. And the world is as it should be._

 

_Stupid world. Stupid house with a stupid bed. Stupid road with stupid corpses littered here or there. Stupid town next to a stupid city with my stupid theme park._

 

_Stupid bunny._

 

_Stupid honesty, the shit-stain of all the virtues._

 

_I’m going back home to where things make sense. Zombies are zombies: dead, lifeless, and simple. And she’ll continue to be alive and find some buck who’s brains I didn’t eat and live happily ever after until she dies and skips this whole zombie business altogether…_

 

_…stupid rain._

 

N zipped his hoodie up a little higher, brought his arms into his center.

 

He shivered.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Another huge thank you to FeverWildeHopps for stepping into illustrate this next chapter! She surprised me with two pieces for this chapter! Go show her tumblr some love: https://feverwildehopps.tumblr.com/. 
> 
> A big thanks to OnceNeverTwiceAlways for her fantastic editing efforts too!
> 
> Keep your eyes peeled for the next chapter next month!


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